Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey trailer is now available online

With YouTube's awful compression

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is a mythic action epic we've been eagerly waiting for since it was announced. It's easily one of the most hotly anticipated films coming in 2026. And as a little treat just before Christmas, a trailer is finally here, even if it's dragged down by YouTube's awful compression — maybe an indicator of why Nolan kept The Odyssey trailer exclusive to movie theaters until now.

The first look shows Matt Damon (Jason Bourne) as Odysseus, Tom Holland (Uncharted) as Telemachus, and Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables) as Penelope, who asks her husband to promise he'll return to her, only for him to look up at her and ask what happens if he can't. The trailer also revealed a very brief, shadowy glimpse of Polyphemus, the cyclops whose sheep Odysseus and his men steal after running out of food on their voyage home.

Adapted from one of the foundational texts of Western literature, The Odyssey follows the legendary king of Ithaca, Odysseus. Following his victory over his enemies during the Trojan War, depicted in The Iliad​​​​​​, Homer's epic poem follows the king on his long and perilous journey home. Along the way, Odysseus encounters several obstacles and mythical beings, such as the cyclops Polyphemus, Circe, a witch-goddess who turns men into pigs, and the deceptive Sirens. Despite these troubles, Odysseus swears he’ll do anything to get home to Ithaca to see his wife Penelope and son, Telemachus.

Alongside Damon, Holland, and Hathaway, the adaptation boasts a star-studded cast, with Charlize Theron (The Old Guard 2) as the cunning Circe, Zendaya (Euphoria), Lupita Nyong'o (A Quiet Place: Day One), Robert Pattinson (The Batman), Elliot Page (Umbrella Academy), and Jon Bernthal (The Punisher).

The Odyssey has already been adapted several times before, from modern retellings like Uberto Pasolini’s 2024 film, The Return, to Jean-Claude Gallota's 1999 ballet, Ulysse. The Odyssey has even been adapted into a musical by Jorge Rivera-Herrans, titled Epic: The Musical, which is split into a nine-part album series.

An official trailer for The Odyssey has been long-awaited since the film’s official reveal and a 70-second-long teaser that featured Tom Holland and Jon Bernthal, which was only shown in movie theaters ahead of screenings of Universal’s Jurassic World Rebirth. It subsequently leaked online soon after.

For a better, clearer look at The Odyssey, the trailer uploaded to the film's official X account might fit the bill.

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The Odyssey is scheduled to be released to IMAX theaters everywhere on July 17, 2026.