'The Odyssey' – New Looks at Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland and Robert Pattinson

The long-awaited next film project Christopher Nolan, The Odisseywhich adapts Homer's epic poem, continues to prepare audiences for its big screen release next year.

The latest in the marketing campaign Universal Picturesit's a handful of official promotional imageswhich offer new glimpses at the protagonists Matt Damon like Odysseus, Tom Holland like his son Telemachus, and Anne Hathaway as Penelope, wife of Odysseus, as well as the first glimpse of Robert Pattinson (Die My Love) playing Antinous, already Himesh Patel (Tenet) like Eurylochus.

For Damon and Hathaway it is a new collaboration with Nolan. Both were part of Interstellarwith Hathaway also participating in The Dark Knight Rises. Also a new collaboration is Patel, who was part of the cast of Tenet.

The glimpses are available at the end of the note.

Based on the ancient epic poem by Homer, The story revolves around Odysseus, king of Ithaca, on his perilous journey home after the Trojan Warexploring themes of heroism, loyalty, cunning, and fighting against divine will.

During his journey, the protagonist faces the cyclops Polyphemus, the mermaids, the nymph Calypso and the witch goddess Circe in the treacherous oceans that separate him from his native island and his wife Penelope, who breaks up a wedding procession that she weaves every night in case one of the suitors who have taken over her home ends up marrying her if her husband does not return. His memory is also guarded by his son Telemachus (Holland in the film). The story also includes gods such as Athena, Poseidon, and Zeus.

The rest of the star cast includes Mia Goth like Melanto, Zendaya (Euphoria), Lupita Nyong'o (A Quiet Place: Day One), Charlize Theron (The Old Guard 2), Jon Bernthal (The Bear), John Leguizamo (The Green Veil), Benny Safdie (Oppenheimer), Elliot Page (Inception), Bill Irwin (The Dropout), Samantha Morton (The Serpent Queen), Jesse Garcia (Flamin’ Hot), Will Yun Lee (The Good Doctor), Logan Marshall-Green (Prometheus, Upgrade), y Corey Hawkins (The Piano Lesson).

Filming ended in recent weeks, after having been carried out in Morocco and Sicily, specifically on Favignana Island, a place where according to scholars, it served for Odysseus's wanderings in Homer's epic. It is believed to be the place where Homer imagined that Odysseus would disembark with his various tribulations to roast goats and stock up on food. The island, also known as “the island of the goats” is part of the Egadi Islands archipelago, off the northwest coast of Sicily.

The production of The Odyssey used new technology IMAX and equipment never used before, and it has already made history by becoming the first narrative feature film filmed entirely with IMAX cameras. What does it mean? While filming was previously limited to filming action scenes in IMAX mainly, due to how noisy the format's cameras are for filming dialogues close to the actor, Nolan and company created a new casing for the IMAX moviecall blimpto significantly reduce noise.

Nolan is the screenwriter, director and producer.

The Odyssey was previously adapted into the Italian film Ulysses from director Mario Camerini and star Kirk Douglas. In 1997, Andrei Konchalovsky adapted it into a miniseries with Armand Assante in the lead role. The most recent adaptation is the 2024 film, The Return, by Uberto Pasolini, with Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche in leading roles.

Nolan will produce alongside his associate and wife, Emma Thomasfor their production company, Syncopy.

Universal set its premiere in theaters for July 17, 2026. It will include IMAX theaters.

New looks (via EW):