‘The Odyssey’ Trailer: Christopher Nolan Brings the Ultimate Epic to the Big Screen

Your middle school English teacher is thrilled. (We are, too.)

There’s nothing we love more than a sub-sub-subgenre, and Christopher Nolan‘s much-anticipated next film, “The Odyssey,” is already putting a major stake (or a big-ass sword?) in its particular designation: it’s “a mythic action epic,” and now that we’ve finally got a look at its first trailer, it’s hard to argue with that.

Based on Homer’s “foundational saga” (as in, you read it in school and probably didn’t quite jibe with it, but all that is about to very much change), Nolan’s latest was shot entirely using IMAX cameras, and its incredible scope is already on display, even in just a two-minute look. This first look leans on the inherent drama and pain of the titular odyssey, including a few chilling deaths and a closer look at the leadership on display by our primary hero.

The film stars Matt Damon as as Odysseus, the mythical Greek hero who spends a decade trying to return home after fighting in the Trojan War. The cast also features Tom Holland as Odysseus’ son Telemachus, Anne Hathaway as his wife Penelope, and Mia Goth as Melantho. The film also stars Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Benny Safdie, Charlize Theron, Jon Bernthal, John Leguizamo, and Elliot Page in currently undisclosed roles (though Jennifer Lawrence joked to us that Pattinson is playing one of the sirens).

The feature is billed as a reimagining of the iconic Greek epic about hero Odysseus who spends a decade trying to return home after fighting in the Trojan War. Homer’s “Odyssey” is believed to have been compiled around the 8th century B.C.E.

Earlier this year, Nolan told Empire magazine about the many elements that fuel the film. “As a filmmaker, you’re looking for gaps in cinematic culture, things that haven’t been done before. And what I saw is that all of this great mythological cinematic work that I had grown up with — Ray Harryhausen movies and other things — I’d never seen that done with the sort of weight and credibility that an A-budget and a big Hollywood, IMAX production could do.”

And, yes, you can already buy tickets for it right now.

Universal will release “The Odyssey” in theaters everywhere on July 17, 2026. Watch the new trailer below.