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The Odysseyis making its way to the big screen under the directorial charm of Christopher Nolan in 2026. The Ancient Greek epic tells the story of the King of Ithaca, Odysseus, as he makes his way back to his home after the Sacking of Troy. While it seems to be an odd film for Nolan to dive into, especially given his foray into science fiction and World War II period pieces, there is a reason why theInterstellarandTenetdirector might be well-equipped to tell the story after all.
Time has been an important theme in the works of Christopher Nolan, whether it be the non-linearity of it in postmodern narratives, or the nature of time when it comes to human lives (such as losing time with loved ones, as was the case inInterstellar.)The Odysseytells its story out of order, which might be something right up Christopher Nolan’s alley.
Dunkirk,Tenet, andInterstellarall play with time, and it will probably be the case withThe Odysseyfilm too
On the surface,The Odysseyhas a lot of things in common withInterstellar. The epic charts Odysseus’s treacherous journey home from the shores of Troy, which ends up taking the character a decade to cover. Further, this ten-year-long delay comes after Odysseus and the other Greek kings were stuck warring with Troy for ten years, making it so that Odysseus has been away from home for twenty years.
During this time, his infant son has grown up without him, and his wife has been entertaining suitors, all of which have been growing increasingly rowdy. Nolan’s obsession with time as a theme in his stories is well-reflected in the narrative ofThe Odyssey, which begins in medias res and similarly ends itself before all the plot threads are resolved.
The epic not only focuses on Odysseus’s journey but also shows readers the trials and tribulations of his allies and family, such as the Greek king Menelaus, the abduction of whose wife caused the war with Troy in the first place, Telemachus, who sets out to collect information of his father’s whereabouts, and Penelope, who tries to stave off her suitors as she waits for Odysseus to return to Ithaca.
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Given that so much of the story is recounted out of order, and entire swaths of time are recounted in just a few short sentences, Nolan might be in his element when trying to adaptThe Odyssey, with its huge cast of characters, universal themes, and morally ambiguous heroes (which is also a recurring archetype in his films.) The film also has an enormouslytalented cast that might be more than suitedto bring the characters of the epic to life, such as Charlize Theron, Lupita Nyong’o,Tom Holland, Zendaya, andMatt Damon.
His work withDunkirk, which has time overlapping across different lengths, andTenet, where time itself is used as a plot device, might have equipped Nolan with the tools he needs to handle the complex, varied, and incomplete story of Odysseus.
There is another angle that Christopher Nolan can explore withThe Odyssey
Christopher Nolanis one of the most celebrated postmodern auteurs in Western cinema, and while it makes sense for him to adapt the story beat for beat, there is an angle that the director could take.The Odysseyis a part of a larger epic cycle, of which the only other extant part isThe Iliad. Both these stories, along with the rest of the Cycle, were part of an oral tradition before they were written down in ~800 BC.
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There are several anachronistic elements in the story, such as a marriage of martial and mercantile values of the bronze and iron ages of the area respectively, along with a focus on the geography of Troy, which is located in modern-day Turkey. This was also the area where Homer, who allegedly had the epic written in the Iron Age, resided.
Given that period pieces, time, and post-modern narratives are all something that Christopher Nolan is able to play with, Nolan might tell the story with a focus on its anachronistic elements, focusing on how the story has morphed and stayed in the Western conscience so many years after the Trojan War. There is also the fact that Nolan might look to incorporate Odysseus’ most character-defining moment into the story: The Trojan Horse, which only gets a fleeting mention inThe Odyssey.
The film, currently referred to asThe Odyssey, will hit theatres on July 16th, 2026.
Anuraag Chatterjee
Content Writer
Articles Published :1633
Anuraag Chatterjee, Web Content WriterWith a passion for writing fiction and non fiction content, Anuraag is a Media Science graduate with 2 year’s experience with Marketing and Content, with 3 published poetry anthologies. Anuraag holds a Bacherlor’s degree in Arts with a focus on Communication and Media Studies.
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