Matt Damon confirmed as Odysseus in Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ in first-look image
A first-look image has revealed that Matt Damon is playing the lead role of Odysseus in Christopher Nolan’s highly-anticipated adaptation of Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey.
The official X handle for the Universal Pictures movie posted the image on February 17th, confirming that Damon is taking on his first leading role for Nolan. The beloved Bourne star has previously lent support to Interstellar and the Oscar-conquering Oppenheimer, but now he’s suiting up for battle in what could be Nolan’s largest-scale epic yet.
The Odyssey is based on the famed ancient Greek poem which follows Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, on his homecoming journey after fighting in the Trojan War for ten long years. His journey from Troy to Ithaca takes him ten more years, during which time he faces a huge number of perils, the most devastating of which is the Cyclops Polyphemus.
The movie is Nolan’s follow-up to Oppenheimer, for which he won ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Director’ at the Academy Awards in 2024.
It will reunite the director with Universal Pictures, who snapped him up after his public falling out with Warner Brothers, and has already announced a star-studded cast that will likely increase in size in the coming months.
Currently slated to appear in the movie are Damon, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Elliot Page, Anne Hathaway, Jon Bernthal, Charlize Theron, Robert Pattinson, Benny Safdie, Mia Goth, and Himesh Patel. Many of these stars have worked with Nolan before, but Holland, Zendaya, Nyong’o, Bernthal, Goth, and Theron are new additions to his stable.
The movie will hit cinemas on July 17th, 2026.
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