'The Odyssey' trailer shows Christopher Nolan depicting on-screen monsters for the first time

First 'The Odyssey' trailer reveals Christopher Nolan portraying mythological monsters on screen, a career first

The first trailer for Christopher Nolan’s upcoming film The Odyssey has offered audiences an early look at a creative milestone for the director, marking the first time he has portrayed traditional monsters on screen.

Released on December 22, the two-minute trailer previews Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s Ancient Greek epic, which follows the hero Odysseus during and after the Trojan War.

The first trailer for Christopher Nolan’s ‘THE ODYSSEY’ has dropped

In theaters July 17, 2026

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— ScreenTime (@screentime) December 22, 2025

Matt Damon stars as Odysseus, whose journey spans ten years of conflict and a further decade attempting to return home to Ithaca. The cast also includes Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Jon Bernthal, Mia Goth, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, John Leguizamo, Zendaya and Charlize Theron.

Nolan filmed The Odyssey over 91 days across multiple international locations, including Scotland, Iceland, Morocco, Greece and Italy. The director has long been known for prioritising real-world locations over studio-bound production, a practice he has continued on this project.

Footage in the trailer reveals mythological creatures central to Homer’s story, including the Cyclops and an army of undead soldiers. These appearances represent a departure for Nolan, whose previous films have avoided overt supernatural or fantastical monsters.

While earlier works such as Batman Begins featured hallucinatory imagery, and characters like the Joker in The Dark Knight have been described by audiences as monstrous, The Odyssey marks the first time Nolan has depicted creatures drawn directly from myth.

At around the midpoint of the trailer, Odysseus and his men are shown confronting the Cyclops inside a cave. Later scenes depict black-armoured figures emerging from a dark, volcanic shoreline, sequences believed to have been filmed in Iceland.

The trailer also confirms Zendaya as Athena, the goddess of wisdom and war, and Charlize Theron as Circe, the sorceress who transforms Odysseus’ crew into animals.

Several cast roles remain unannounced, including appearances by Jovan Adepo, James Remar, Samantha Morton, Elliot Page and Logan Marshall-Green, suggesting additional characters from Greek mythology may feature.

The Odyssey is based on one of the foundational texts of Western literature and represents a new thematic direction within Nolan’s body of work, expanding his filmography into mythological territory for the first time.