The Odyssey (2026)

The film opens in 1348 in a cramped, soot-dark mining village in England. Miners and their families crowd a narrow lane as a pall of fear settles over the settlement: rumor of the Black Death has arrived. A slender teenager named Griffin moves through the throng with restless eyes; villagers call him strange because he utters vivid dreams. The community agrees on a desperate plan: a delegation will take the village's copper cross, cut from the local mine's ore, to the tallest church they can imagine and place it on its pinnacle; they believe that act will spare them from the plague. Connor, Griffin's older brother and the only villager who has traveled beyond their valley, volunteers to lead the party.

They enter a deserted shaft in the mine that hasn't been worked in generations. Griffin says he has dreamed of a ladder that led to a bright city, and the group follows his directions. In a collapsed, cobwebbed chamber they discover a modern industrial ladder of galvanized metal bolted into the rock. They climb. At the top the shaft opens not to sky and hills but to a concrete back lane beside a wide expressway and the blur of traffic -- a city of glass and lights that none of them can name. They walk through dusk and reach a soaring cathedral whose spire dominates the skyline. Griffin insists in a tremulous voice that his dream shows the cathedral as the "great church" that will save them. The townsfolk refuse to let a child go; Connor hoists the copper cross and begins to climb the scaffolding toward the roof.

Griffin cries out that the one who places the cross will fall and die, and when he sees Connor ascending he scrambles up the scaffolding to stop him. Connor keeps going. Griffin reaches the top, lunges, and his hand slips on the wet stone; he topples from the spire into air. He wakes with a gasp in the cold damp of the mine. The modern skyline collapses into the black walls of their shaft; his whole "city" was a sleep-told tale. The men below shout and tumble to him; the villagers insist that Griffin's dream -- as narrated aloud in his sleep -- told Connor to take the cross, and that the vision has saved them. They carry the copper cross back to the village and raise it over the chapel roof in ceremonial triumph. The community celebrates with song and ale.

When the revelry dies and the crowd disperses, Griffin presses at his underarms and finds small lumps forming beneath the skin. He confronts Connor, who admits in a voice like gravel that when he left the village he had been ill and that he returned already carrying infection. Connor says he thought the only way to save the others was to appear well enough to lead them; he asks Griffin to forgive him. Griffin walks to the river that curves like a blade through the valley at night; he wades into the cold current and lets it take him, choosing to drown rather than risk carrying the plague back to the people who love him. The camera follows him beneath the water until, in a single cut, the film abandons the medieval bank of the river and lands in another shore and an entirely different world.

The narrative then shifts to ancient Greece after the fall of Troy. The king Odysseus of Ithaca (portrayed by Matt Damon) stands amid ash and ruin as the city of Troy smolders in the background; soldiers move through broken gates and overturned wagons. He gathers the remaining captains and sailors and loads his ships with survivors, gearing up for the long voyage home. He prays to the gods and to his household gods for a safe passage, and then the fleet sets out.

On the first leg of the return, Odysseus and his men land on the coast of the Cicones. They sack the town of Ismarus, strip it of goods, and take captives. They linger to feast, and while they sleep a counterattack sweeps down from the hills: mounted Cicones drive them back to the ships and cut down many Greeks. In the chaos Odysseus orders a fighting withdrawal; the men manage to launch a handful of ships to sea but not before losing comrades to arrows and iron. The film shows faces of those swallowed by the battle: spears impale shields, horses trample, and Odysseus pulls bodies from the surf and slams them into boats.

They sail on and arrive at a shore of lush flowers where the Lotus-Eaters live. Some of Odysseus' crew come ashore and eat the narcotic lotus; they sink into forgetful contentment and refuse to return. Odysseus binds the affected men and drags them back to the ship, shoving them into oars and slapping their faces until they row.

The fleet next reaches an island cave where a single giant, Polyphemus the Cyclops, keeps his flocks. Odysseus sends scouts into the cavern to trade, but Polyphemus seals the entrance with a massive stone and, discovering the intruders, drags two men one by one into his palms and crushes them; he eats them raw. He fills his belly and yawns at the stunned Greeks. Odysseus plots. He offers the giant wine until the Cyclops grows drunk and falls into an alcohol-slurred sleep. While Polyphemus snores, Odysseus and six men shape a wooden stake, heat its tip in the embers, and drive it into the Cyclops' single eye. The creature howls and strikes blindly; he tears names and cries to the winds. At dawn Odysseus tells the giant his name is "Nobody." When Polyphemus cries for help, he tells the other Cyclopes that "Nobody" has blinded him and they ignore his pleas. At night Odysseus ties his men beneath the bellies of Polyphemus' largest rams and escapes when the beasts are led out to pasture; as the giant feels the backs of the animals he does not detect the men slung beneath. When the fleet reaches a safe distance Odysseus, in a fit of arrogance, calls out his true name. Polyphemus lifts a boulder and hurls it into the sea, and the rock shatters the stern of the nearest ship. Polyphemus then prays to his father Poseidon, who will carry a grudge and later make Odysseus' passage miserable. The film lingers on the ruined hull and on Odysseus' hollow triumph as the sea foams around the wreckage.

The men next reach the island of Aeolus, keeper of the winds. Aeolus (played in a brief scene by one of the secondary cast) receives Odysseus and gives him a leather bag containing all the winds bound away so that only the west wind may blow them home. For nine days the current pushes them toward Ithaca, and the shores of home rise on the horizon. As Odysseus sleeps, exhausted, his curious crew suspects the bag contains treasure. Eurylochus, who voices the men's fear, pries it open; the winds escape in a roaring storm and hurl the ships back into unknown sea. When they return to Aeolus and ask for new help, Aeolus refuses to aid those he deems cursed by the gods.

The survivors find themselves then among the cannibal Laestrygonians. When the fleet anchors in a clear harbor a sentry rowed to shore is crushed between two giant hands; the Laestrygonian queen hurls boulders that smash rigging and hull, and spears slam into timbers as men fall screaming into the water. The giants pick up captains and eat them alive at rock tables; a scene of horrific feasting shows arms and bone. Only Odysseus' ship escapes the narrow channel; others are ground like grain beneath the giants' palms. Odysseus watches his friends being torn apart and shouts commands; he sails out under a rain of rocks.

They reach the island of Circe, a magician who lures men with food and song. Circe invites Odysseus' captains to a feast and then strikes them with potions that transform bodies into swine: snouts sprout, bristles rise, and the men squeal in panic. They are penned and fed in stalls. Odysseus, guided by a god-sent herb from Hermes, resists her charm and forces Circe to reverse the spells with a complex ritual: she mixes bitter herbs and hot water and drives a wand through the air; in a night of tremor she restores human shapes to the swine-men, and they fall weeping, human again. The crew weeps for the lives they lost and the days behind them. Circe keeps Odysseus as her lover for a year, and he lingers. During that time a youthful sailor named Elpenor slips from a rooftop after a drunken sleep and breaks his neck on the stone below; he dies instantly. Odysseus later finds Elpenor's body and must bury him at Circe's island in a simple, shivering ceremony.

Circe tells Odysseus that he must descend to the House of Death to speak with the blind seer Tiresias to learn how to return home. He sails to the edge of the world, anchors, digs a black pit, and pours libations while the dead gather like a gray wind. He holds a rite: he slaughters sheep and lets their blood pool so the dead can drink and speak. First the shade of Elpenor rises and demands a proper burial; Odysseus promises to return and commit burial rites. Then his mother Anticlea's spirit appears; she tells him she died crushed by grief for her son, and she vanishes before he can touch her. Tiresias emerges pale and blind, hears the question, and answers with a sequence of instructions: he tells Odysseus not to harm the cattle of the sun-god Helios on Thrinacia, warns that Poseidon will continue to exact revenge for the Cyclops unless Odysseus has patience, and outlines the trials he will face. Tiresias predicts that Odysseus will return home in disguise and will have to purge his house of suitors. The meeting ends with prophecies of loss: most of Odysseus' crew will not survive the voyage.

They leave the underworld and return to Circe's island. Circe aids them with knowledge: she says they must sail past the Sirens and avoid Charybdis and Scylla. Odysseus instructs his men to stop their ears with beeswax and to lash him to the mast because he insists on hearing the Sirens' song himself. As the ship rows by the Sirens' shoal a sound like silver threads and cold honey wraps the air; Odysseus screams to be freed, claws at his bonds, sings out to the men, and they shove more oars into the water until the ship clears the lure. The film captures Odysseus' body stretched and shaking against the mast; sweat streams, his teeth grind, and the crew rows with deafened determination.

Soon after they must pass between Scylla, a six-headed monster that snaps men from the oars, and Charybdis, a swallowing whirlpool that threatens to crush the whole keel. Odysseus chooses to hug the cliff where Scylla dwells, trading six men for the ship's survival rather than risk total loss in Charybdis. Scylla reaches down and rips sailors from the deck one by one: the camera follows hands being snatched, the flash of teeth, the wetness of the sea closing over heads. Odysseus watches as six named crewmen--targets of the monster's reach--are plucked and swallowed; their screams cut off as Scylla slams her jaws shut upon them.

They come to the island of Thrinacia, sacred pasture of Helios, and Odysseus begs his crew to wait out their hunger without touching the god's herds. Hunger gnaws at the men; Eurylochus incites the others and they slaughter cattle while Odysseus sleeps on the beach praying. When the sun-god discovers the sacrilege he storms to Zeus and demands vengeance. Zeus hurls a bolt at the ship as it sails away and splits timbers: the sea rises in a wall and swallows the watching men. Only Odysseus survives this cataclysm, clinging to floating wood while the bodies of his comrades wash past.

Odysseus drifts to the island of Ogygia where Calypso, a nymph, finds him insensible and takes him to a cave where she keeps him as a lover for seven years. She binds him with comfort and offers immortality, but Odysseus longs for home. The gods hear the pleas of mortals and of Athena, who pleads to Zeus for his release. Zeus sends Hermes with an order: Calypso must free Odysseus. She obeys, and Odysseus builds a fragile raft from timber and sets sail. Poseidon, still raging, smashes the raft with a storm. Odysseus clutches a beam and is swept along for days until, half-drowned and stinging with salt, he reaches the island of the Phaeacians.

On Phaeacia Odysseus washes ashore in the under-sleep of the gods and is discovered by Nausicaa, the princess, who leads him nude and shivering to the city. The Phaeacian king Alcinous gives him rest and hospitality. Odysseus sits before the court and tells the story of his travels at length -- the sack of Troy, the Lotus-Eaters, the Cyclops and its blinding, the winds of Aeolus, the Laestrygonians' attack, the year with Circe, the descent to the dead, the Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, and the annihilation of his crew on Thrinacia -- all recounted in halting, harrowed detail. Elpenor's plea returns to him, and he asks the Phaeacians to ferry him the last short distance to Ithaca. They agree and build a swift ship that carries him home on a hush of oars in the night.

Odysseus reaches Ithaca at dawn but does not immediately show himself. Athena cloaks him in a beggar's guise and advises him to move cautiously. He visits his old swineherd Eumaeus in disguise and tests the loyalty of servants. Meanwhile, at Odysseus' palace, men swarm like locusts: a hundred suitors inhabit his halls, devouring his stores and pressuring Penelope to choose a new husband. Antinous leads them with brazen insolence, flinging insults at the absent king. Telemachus, Odysseus' son (portrayed by Tom Holland), who leaves in the years before to search for word of his father, now returns and meets the disguised Odysseus; Odysseus reveals himself to Telemachus in secret and they plot to retake the house. Penelope (Anne Hathaway) sits in the weaving room and defers remarriage with tricks: she says she will choose a suitor only after finishing a burial shroud, then unweaves it each night to delay the decision.

Odysseus, still disguised as a beggar, enters the feasting hall and endures humiliation while he gauges the suitors' strength. He speaks bitterly to some and is mocked by others. On the morning of the contest Penelope sets a test: whoever can string Odysseus' great bow and shoot an arrow through twelve axe heads will win her hand. The suitors strain and fail. Then the beggar asks to attempt the test. The suitors laugh, but Telemachus opens a door to the storeroom and Odysseus takes up the bow that only he can string. He bends it and bends again until the stave sings and the bow cracks into readiness. He fits an arrow and shoots straight through the twelve axe-helms; silence falls.

When the suitors realize the stakes, Antinous draws a blade and lunges for the beggar. Odysseus steps free and shoots Antinous through the throat with his arrow; the man staggers and collapses with blood pouring from his mouth, choking on his own wine. Panic erupts. Eurymachus grabs a spear and tries to gather the suitors, but Odysseus shoots him in the chest; Telemachus seizes his sword and cuts down Amphinomus as he charges. The loyal swineherd Eumaeus and the cowherd Philoetius take up arms and begin to slaughter those who stand. The film shows each death in close focus: a spear that pierces a bellied man; a dagger that slides between ribs; a chair smashed into a head. Some suitors beg for mercy; Odysseus answers with cold steel. He orders the disloyal slavewomen to be brought forth; Melantho and others who consorted with the suitors are forced to clean the blood-slick hall and are then hanged in the courtyard at Telemachus' command. The bodies of the suitors are dragged inert into an enormous heap on the palace floor.

Penelope stands across the hall as Odysseus's revealed face steps into the light. She does not immediately embrace him. She sets one last test: she orders the bed they shared to be moved from the marriage chamber so that she can accept Odysseus if the bed itself has been moved -- a task impossible because Odysseus had built their bed around a living olive tree, making it unshiftable. Odysseus, angry and full of weary joy, describes in excruciating detail the bed's construction and its immobility, and at his explanation Penelope collapses into his arms. They weep, they kiss, and Penelope allows herself to sleep beside the man who will not leave her again.

The community of Ithaca does not accept the massacre in silence. The kin of slain suitors gather with spears and complaints and march to the palace demanding blood and justice. Odysseus arms himself for a last pitched fight and leads a contingent to Laertes, his aged father, who lives alone in a rusted orchard. Odysseus reveals himself to Laertes and the two reconcile in a brief, fierce scene; Laertes grabs a spear and joins his son. They go together to confront the assembled clans. As the first lines begin to clash in the morning haze, Athena steps onto the field and appears with a helm of light, halting the thrusting, raising her hand. She commands peace and decrees that the feud must end. The clans reluctantly accept her judgment, and a fragile peace settles.

The film's final images trace Odysseus re-establishing himself at the palace. He walks through rooms full of relics of his life: a chest of weapons, a shelf of sea-weathered maps, scraps of Troy-scarred armor. He sits at the hearth with Penelope and Telemachus; he touches the oak posts of the bed and smiles once, briefly. The camera cuts back to the river bank in 1348 where Griffin's body lies beneath slick water while villagers look on with tears. The rustle of ancient sea wind and the creak of rigging overlay the medieval scene, and then the film closes on Ithaca's calm harbor at dusk: Odysseus sits on the prow of a small boat, Penelope beside him, their shadows stretching long across the slow water. The last frame freezes on his face as he looks out to sea, exhausted and whole.

Throughout the film the cast fills the epic's figures: Matt Damon plays Odysseus; Anne Hathaway plays Penelope; Tom Holland portrays Telemachus. A constellation of supporting actors appears in named parts: Zendaya, Lupita Nyong'o, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, Jon Bernthal, and many others portray Circe, Athena in various guises, cunning messengers, noble captains, and the doomed suitors. The film ends with the fates settled: Griffin drowns to prevent a plague; many of Odysseus' comrades die by spear, by monster, by storm, and by sacrilege; Polyphemus is blinded but not killed; Elpenor dies falling from a roof; the Laestrygonians devour a number of the fleet utterly; the suitors die at Odysseus' hand and those who aided them -- the disloyal maidservants -- meet execution; Antinous falls pierced by an arrow, Eurymachus by Odysseus' blade, Amphinomus struck down by Telemachus, and others fall to spears and swords in the palace purge. The final scenes close with Odysseus reclaimed at last and all major conflicts resolved by the hero's return, the killing of the suitors, and the intervention of the gods to end the bloodshed.

Short, Simple Narrative

After years of wandering and facing countless dangers, Odysseus finally returns to Ithaca, disguised as a beggar. With the help of his son Telemachus and the goddess Athena, he devises a plan to defeat the suitors who have overrun his palace and threatened his wife, Penelope. In a dramatic confrontation, Odysseus reveals his true identity, defeats the suitors, and is joyfully reunited with Penelope, restoring peace to his kingdom.

Expanded, Chronological, Scene-by-Scene Narrative

The final act of The Odyssey (2026) begins as Odysseus, still in the guise of a ragged beggar, steps onto the shores of Ithaca after a decade of trials. The land is both familiar and strange to him; he moves cautiously, his eyes scanning the hills and olive groves, his heart heavy with longing and wariness. He is met by the goddess Athena, who has guided and protected him throughout his journey. She assures him that the time has come to reclaim his home, but warns that the palace is overrun with suitors who seek Penelope's hand and his throne. Athena advises him to proceed in secret, to test the loyalty of his household, and to wait for the right moment to strike.

Odysseus makes his way to the hut of Eumaeus, his loyal swineherd. There, he is welcomed with humble hospitality, though Eumaeus does not recognize his master. Odysseus listens as Eumaeus speaks of the kingdom's suffering and the queen's steadfastness. The disguised king shares veiled stories of his own past, testing the swineherd's faith, and is moved by the man's unwavering loyalty.

Meanwhile, Telemachus, Odysseus's son, returns from his own journey to seek news of his father. Warned by Athena, he avoids the suitors' ambush and arrives at Eumaeus's hut. There, father and son are reunited. At first, Telemachus does not recognize the beggar, but when Odysseus reveals his true identity, the young prince is overcome with emotion--relief, joy, and a fierce determination to help his father reclaim their home. Together, they plot their next move, their bond reforged in shared purpose.

The next day, Odysseus, still disguised, enters his own palace. The great hall is a scene of revelry and disrespect: the suitors feast on his livestock, drink his wine, and mock the idea of Odysseus's return. Penelope, weary but resolute, presides over the chaos with quiet dignity. She has resisted the suitors' advances for years, clinging to hope that her husband will return. Odysseus observes the suitors' arrogance and his wife's suffering, his anger simmering beneath his ragged exterior.

Penelope, seeking to delay the suitors further, announces a contest: whoever can string Odysseus's great bow and shoot an arrow through twelve axe heads may have her hand. The suitors try and fail, their weakness exposed. The beggar asks to attempt the feat. Amidst their jeers, he takes the bow, strings it effortlessly, and fires the arrow straight through the targets. In that moment, he casts off his disguise and stands revealed as Odysseus, king of Ithaca.

Chaos erupts. The suitors, realizing their doom, scramble for weapons, but Odysseus, Telemachus, Eumaeus, and a few loyal servants fight back. The battle is fierce and bloody. Odysseus, driven by years of pent-up rage and a desire to protect his family, fights with the skill and fury of a seasoned warrior. One by one, the suitors fall. The hall, once a place of mockery and excess, is now a scene of justice and retribution.

With the suitors defeated, Odysseus seeks out Penelope. She is cautious, unsure if this man is truly her husband returned after so many years. She tests him with a secret known only to them--the construction of their marriage bed, rooted in the trunk of an olive tree. When Odysseus describes it perfectly, Penelope's reserve breaks. She embraces him, tears streaming down her face, her years of loneliness and steadfastness rewarded at last.

The household is cleansed of the suitors' influence. The loyal servants, who suffered under their rule, are honored. Eumaeus and the cowherd Philoetius, who remained faithful, are rewarded. Telemachus stands at his father's side, no longer a boy seeking guidance but a young man who has proven his courage and loyalty.

Odysseus and Penelope retire to their chamber, finally alone after twenty years. They speak softly of all that has passed, of the pain of separation and the joy of reunion. Outside, the kingdom begins to heal. The next morning, Odysseus goes to his father, Laertes, who has aged in grief. Father and son embrace, and Laertes's spirit is renewed by the return of his child.

The film ends with Odysseus walking the fields of Ithaca, his homeland restored, his family reunited, and his name once again spoken with respect. The trials of his journey have tempered him; he is a king who has known suffering, loss, and redemption. Penelope, her loyalty unwavering, stands beside him, the kingdom secure under their joint rule. Telemachus, having grown into a leader, looks to the future with hope. The household servants, their faithfulness rewarded, return to their duties with pride. The cycle of violence and wandering is over; peace has returned to Ithaca.

Fate of the Main Characters

Odysseus: After enduring a decade of trials, he returns to Ithaca, defeats the suitors, and is reunited with his wife and son. He reclaims his throne and restores order to his kingdom, his journey complete.

Penelope: Having waited faithfully for twenty years, she is finally reunited with her husband. Her intelligence and loyalty are rewarded, and she resumes her place as queen beside Odysseus.

Telemachus: No longer the uncertain youth, he has proven himself in battle and in loyalty to his father. He stands as a prince ready to inherit his father's legacy.

Eumaeus and Philoetius: The loyal servants are honored for their faithfulness and play key roles in the final confrontation. They are restored to their positions of trust in the household.

The Suitors: They are all killed in the final battle, paying the price for their arrogance, disrespect, and crimes against Odysseus's household.

Athena: The goddess, having guided and protected Odysseus throughout, watches as he reclaims his home. Her role as divine protector is fulfilled.

Laertes: Odysseus's aged father is joyfully reunited with his son, his grief lifted by the restoration of his family.

This ending is a culmination of loyalty, endurance, and the reclaiming of identity. Each character's fate is tied directly to their actions and choices throughout the story, with the film emphasizing the cost of hubris, the value of fidelity, and the power of homecoming.

There is no publicly available information or official confirmation about a post-credit scene in the 2026 film The Odyssey directed by Christopher Nolan. None of the current sources, including trailers, cast and crew details, or news articles, mention or describe any post-credit scenes for this movie.

Given Christopher Nolan's typical filmmaking style, which usually avoids post-credit scenes common in franchise or superhero films, it is likely that The Odyssey does not include one. However, since the film is scheduled for release on July 17, 2026, more detailed information may become available closer to or after the release date.

In The Odyssey (2026), Odysseus faces several dangerous encounters including the Cyclops Polyphemus, the Sirens, and the witch-goddess Circe as he attempts to return home after the Trojan War.

The film depicts Odysseus returning to Ithaca in disguise, where he reunites with his son Telemachus. Together, they plan to eliminate the over one hundred suitors who have invaded Odysseus's palace, aiming to marry Penelope.

It remains unclear whether Christopher Nolan will follow the original non-linear timeline of Homer's The Odyssey, but many expect him to remain true to the story.

Matt Damon stars as Odysseus, and Tom Holland plays his son Telemachus in the 2026 film adaptation of The Odyssey.

In the film, the goddess Athena aids Odysseus by helping him disguise himself upon his return to Ithaca, facilitating his plan to reclaim his home and identity.

Christopher Nolan's 2026 film The Odyssey is rumored to be rated R, which suggests it is not family-friendly and may contain mature content unsuitable for children or sensitive viewers. Although the official MPAA rating has not been confirmed yet, the R rating rumor is based on the expectation that the film will include intense violence, sexual content, and other adult themes consistent with the source material and Nolan's filmmaking style.

Potentially objectionable or upsetting aspects for children or sensitive people likely include:

• Violence and Gore: Intense battle scenes, graphic violence, and perilous situations are expected, possibly including scenes of death and injury. The original story involves brutal combat and mythical monsters, which Nolan's adaptation may portray realistically.
• Sexual Content: Implied or explicit sexual situations, sensuality, and possibly nudity may be present, as the original epic contains such elements and Nolan's previous films have not shied away from mature themes.
• Strong Language and Adult Themes: The film may contain profanity and mature thematic material, including complex emotional and psychological content.
• Frightening Scenes: Mythical creatures and intense perilous moments could be disturbing for younger or sensitive viewers.

Because of these factors, The Odyssey (2026) is not recommended for children or viewers seeking family-friendly entertainment. It is aimed at mature audiences comfortable with adult themes and intense cinematic experiences.