Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey Reveals First Image of Matt Damon as Odysseus

Christopher Nolan is set to direct an adaptation of Homer’s famous epic, The Odyssey, starring a stacked cast that includes Tom Holland, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Charlize Theron, Robert Pattinson and Matt Damon, who is now confirmed to be playing the lead character, Odysseus. Universal Pictures has released the very first image from the set of the movie showing Damon wearing full armour.

The first image for The Odyssey shows Matt Damon wearing armour, a helmet and cloak fitting of its mythological Greek setting and attire. This also confirms that Damon will be playing the lead role, Odysseus, in the upcoming movie – many initially suspected Tom Holland would lead but it looks like he’ll be playing a supporting character.

Have a look at the image below:

Matt Damon is Odysseus. A film by Christopher Nolan, #TheOdysseyMovie is in theaters July 17, 2026. pic.twitter.com/7a5YbfqVfG

— odysseymovie (@odysseymovie) February 17, 2025

In related news, Christopher Nolan, who has a tendency of creating convincing practical effects for his movies over the use of CGI, is apparently building a giant mechanical cyclops for The Odyssey in a pivotal scene from the source material. Given the fantastical nature of The Odyssey and its mythology-heavy subject matter, it will be interesting to see how Nolan tackles the rest of the movie without relying too heavily on CGI. It’s currently filming and set to release on 17 July 2026.

In case you missed it, check out our ranking of every single Christopher Nolan movie from worst to best, including 2023’s Oscar-winning biopic, Oppenheimer.

In other movie news, Nosferatu director Robert Eggers has announced that his next movie will be a medieval horror about werewolves called Werwulf. Eggers has described it as “the darkest thing” he’s ever written, which is saying something considering his filmography also includes Nosferatu and The Witch.

Source: Universal Pictures on X