Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is finally going to deliver the sequel to Troy I’ve wanted since 2004. The Academy Award-winning Nolan is following up his nearly-billion-dollar grossing masterpiece, Oppenheimer, with an ambitious adaptation of Homer’s eponymous epic poem. The Odyssey is the tale of Odysseus (Matt Damon) and his perilous journey home to Ithica after the end of the Trojan War.
Adapting Homer’s Illiad, director Wolfgang Peterson’s Troy centered on the demigod Achilles (Brad Pitt), the lead warrior of King Agamemnon’s (Brian Cox) invasion of the walled city of Troy. Troy‘s impressive cast included Eric Bana as Hector, Orlando Bloom as Paris, Diane Kruger as Helen, Rose Byrne as Briseis, and Peter O’Toole as Priam, King of Troy.
My favorite, however, was Odysseus (Sean Bean). The King of Ithica, Odysseus, was one of the few Achilles respected and who could speak truth to the demigod’s power.
Christopher Nolan Is Making The Odyssey 21 Years After Wolfgang Peterson’s Troy
Odysseus’ Story Waited Two Decades For A Big Screen Epic
Troy‘s ending saw the sack of the city of Troy via the Greeks’ Trojan horse gambit and the tragic death of Achilles, who was slain by Paris. After the city fell, a funeral pyre was held for Achilles, which was overseen by Odysseus. Troy‘s conclusion begged for a sequel adapting The Odyssey headlined by Sean Bean. However, despite Troy grossing nearly $500 million worldwide in 2004, no sequel to Troy materialized.
At last, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is the ersatz sequel that Troy never got. With plans to film throughout the Aeolian Islands in Sicily, Italy, using new IMAX technology, Nolan will finally give The Odyssey the high level of sophisticated filmmaking that made Oppenheimer one of 2023’s biggest films. Nolan ᴀssembled an enviable cast for The Odyssey, with Tom Holland, Zendaya, Anne Hathaway, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson, and many more joining Matt Damon’s weary warrior on his тιтular odyssey.
Will The Odyssey Bring Back Hollywood’s Historical Epics?
Nolan Could Reignite An Entire Genre
Christopher Nolan is one of the few Academy Award-winning directors whose name alone sells his movies. Nolan’s reputation and proven track record of high-end blockbusters like Inception, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Interstellar, and Oppenheimer virtually guarantee audiences will flock to The Odyssey in 2026. Nolan’s The Odyssey may singlehandedly reignite historical epics as a genre, provoking other studios to green-light their own sword-and-sandals spectacles.
Christopher Nolan is unlikely to cheat the magnitude of Odysseus’ fateful voyage home.
Troy was, in part, a response to the critical and box office success of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. Wolfgang Peterson’s Troy was a grand spectacle of bloody battles and expansive scope, but had notable flaws. Among them, screenwriter David Benioff (co-creator of Game of Thrones) compressed the 10-year war of Troy into a few short weeks. As both writer and director of The Odyssey, the detail-focused Christopher Nolan is unlikely to cheat the magnitude of Odysseus’ fateful voyage home.
