While the 2025 movie landscape is still just getting started, there are plenty of 2026 movies that have been ramping up as they move closer to release, including The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan’s next big film after his mᴀssive Oppenheimer success. The Odyssey has a stacked cast and features plenty of the biggest names in Hollywood, but the central role of Odysseus has been given to Matt Damon. This adds another collaboration between Damon and Christopher Nolan after his supporting roles in Oppenheimer and Interstellar.

While there have already been a few controversies surrounding The Odyssey, namely the costuming on display in the lone image of Damon, his casting seems to be a great choice for the main character. The Odyssey will be based off the Greek epic of the same name by Homer, and Nolan is likely to stick relatively close to the original story, at least as much as he can in a single film. Odysseus is meant to be an extremely skilled fighter and tactician, which feels very reminiscent of Matt Damon’s most iconic franchise.

Matt Damon’s The Odyssey Character Is A Very Skilled Fighter According To Stunt Performer

His Comments Reveal How Matt Damon Is Playing Odysseus

While very little has been revealed about the movie, it seems that it is going to keep Odysseus as this brilliant warrior who has spent his life honing his skills, resulting in one of the greatest fighters of Ancient Greece. One of The Odyssey‘s stunt performers revealed that Odysseus’ fighting style was very important to Damon and Nolan, and they worked very hard to ensure that he was a pragmatic warrior who eschewed flashy tactics in favor of ensuring that he came out on top, no matter what.

The Odyssey Makes Matt Damon’s Odysseus Sound A Lot Like Jason Bourne

The Two Characters Seem To Share A Number Of Similarities

While that may seem like a wild comparison, it does sound like there will be a number of similarities between the two, at least when it comes to the action in the film. Jason Bourne is a similarly pragmatic individual, who is an extremely smart and efficient fighter, dispatching his foes with ease, and without all that much in the way of flair. While the Bourne movies have plenty of bombastic action scenes, the character himself is very practical, and The Odyssey‘s action will likely be similar.

While the central difference between the two characters is that Jason Bourne employs a lot of firearms, which Odysseus won’t have access to, there was quite a bit of hand-to-hand combat in the Bourne films. Matt Damon employed multiple styles of martial arts for the Bourne movies, including Kali and Wing Chun, and while Odysseus will certainly have a very different fighting style based more on historical Greek tactics, there is going to be some crossover between the characters’ action scenes, even if it just boils down to the physicality of it all.

Odysseus’ Jason Bourne Parallels Make Me Love Matt Damon’s Casting Even More

He Can Clearly Shine In A Role Like This

Now, knowing that Odysseus will have these similarities to Jason Bourne, Damon’s casting is even more exciting as the leading man in this huge movie. While he hasn’t been very active in the action genre since his run on the Bourne franchise ended, he was great in all of those films, and it is very exciting when considering what he could bring to The Odyssey. He performed some very impressive physical feats in that franchise, which naturally had a lot of varied action sequences.

Even though Damon is older these days, his time as Jason Bourne would’ve done a great job preparing him for the kind of big action scenes that The Odyssey will undoubtedly feature. From what has been revealed, he is taking it very seriously, bringing a lot of his own thoughts and ideas to the character, and some of his Bourne history seems to be bleeding in. Those original movies helped redefine the action genre, and if The Odyssey is building off that, it is in a great position to succeed just as well.