As the year 2025 transitioned into 2026, the whole world got a peek at Christopher Nolan’s next epic, The Odyssey. In semantic terms, it is the very first epic ever, an extremely long poem credited to the Greek writer Homer. It was only turned into a book in the 1400s, though it was probably passed down through oral tradition for centuries upon centuries before that. The story is set around 1184 BC, after the hero, Odysseus (Matt Damon), fought in the Trojan Wars. As most people are probably aware, the story of The Odyssey is about Odysseus and his soldiers’ long and winding journey back to their home of Ithaca.
And, if you’re looking for the general public’s reaction – not that of the highly – online film buff community – the general impression of the trailer is that it’s a bit… underwhelming. Several Reddit users also said they thought the trailer was [seems there’s an error in original text here]. And while some people are having issues with the dull, serious tone of the trailer (which, whether appropriately or not, feels a lot like Denis Villeneuve’s Dune movies), the truth is, the The Odyssey trailers need to be unexciting because otherwise, we’ll see all the best parts too soon.
Arguably, the challenge with any cinematic adaptation of such an old story is obvious: How do you make the legendary encounter with the Cyclops look amazing and fresh? How do you reveal the many – headed sea monster Scylla without, well, spoiling it? As The Odyssey enters the cultural conversation, there are discussions about the newer Emily Wilson translation that Nolan used to create the film, and the political and cultural significance of the interpretations of Odysseus’ deeds. (I personally [seems there’s an error in original text here], though it’s too late to recommend that version to Mr. Nolan.)
However, in theory, watching The Odyssey on the big screen isn’t a college lecture on how we feel about the origin of Western heroic narratives, and the film’s success or failure won’t be measured by how historically accurate the costumes are. (Can you make mythological gods and heroes that never existed “accurate” anyway?) Instead, the only real measure of The Odyssey‘s success will be if an ordinary person, who has only a vague idea of the story and the history, is captivated by the sheer spectacle. If we wanted another Nolan – directed character study, we could just watch Oppenheimer again.
On the contrary, The Odyssey has witches, sirens, sea monsters, regular monsters, and men getting turned into pigs. Do you really want to put that in the trailer? Of course not. Nolan and whoever is in charge of the film’s marketing are being very clever. These early trailers are safe and straightforward, showing us the characters of Odysseus, his wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway), and his son, Telemachus (Tom Holland). And that’s because, yes, on some level, the story is about this broken family unit, and we need to care about them; otherwise, the grander adventure won’t work.
At some point, a later trailer for the 2026 Odyssey will show more of the well – known and fantastical action. But those who want to experience the film for what it could truly be – a new take on the oldest Western action – adventure story – might want to avoid seeing too many preview images of the film. Many people will have preconceived notions of how the various events should look in the film, but our movie – going experience will definitely be better if our minds are blank when we enter the theater.