The first teaser trailer for Christopher Nolan’s eagerly awaited epic The Odyssey has started screening in cinemas during showings of Jurassic World Rebirth.
The first official footage reportedly debuted in theatres on Tuesday (1 July). There has been no indication as to when the trailer will appear online, with Nolan preferring his trailers to be enjoyed as a cinematic experience.
However, the trailer has been unofficially leaked online, sending fans of the Oscar-winning director of Oppenheimer into a frenzy. While we won’t be sharing that version, we do have a description of the trailer’s content below.
The Odyssey, which is still filming and isn’t due to be released until July 2026, is an adaptation of Homer’s ancient Greek poem. The story follows the hero Odysseus (Matt Damon), king of Ithaca, as he journeys home after the Trojan War. However, his expedition proves perilous as he has to battle numerous threats and mythological creatures.
The trailer opens with an ominous shot of a dark ocean, followed by a voiceover that says: “Darkness. Zeus’s law smashed to pieces. I’m without a king since my master died. He knew it was an unwinnable war. And then, somehow, he won it.”
It then switches to a scene featuring Tom Holland as Odysseus’s son Telemachus, having a conversation with an unnamed character played by Jon Bernthal, both of whom are surrounded by other individuals in a packed room.
"I have to find out what happened to my father. When did you last see him?" Telemachus asks. Bernthal’s character loudly replies: “Who has a story about Odysseus? You? You have a story? Some say he’s rich. Some say he’s poor. Some said he perished. Some said he’s imprisoned.”
The clip then cuts to footage of a man floating on a piece of driftwood in the middle of the sea, which many have assumed to be Damon’s Odysseus. It the ends with the film’s title and its release date of 17 July, 2026.
Joining Damon, Holland and Bernthal is an all-star cast that also includes Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Anne Hathaway and Charlize Theron. More recent casting announcements include Mia Goth, John Leguizamo, Benny Safdie and Elliot Page.
The Odyssey has been partially filmed in Sicily, the island scholars say Homer based a portion of Odysseus’s journey upon in his 8th century BCE epic.
Favignana is understood to be the place where Homer wrote that Odysseus and his crew landed, collected food, and barbecued goats in the tale. It is part of the Egadi archipelago off of Sicily’s north west coast.
