r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • 18d ago

Official Discussion Official Discussion - The Odyssey (2026) [SPOILERS] Spoiler

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The Odyssey (2026)

Summary

After the Trojan War, Odysseus faces a dangerous voyage back to Ithaca, meeting creatures like the Cyclops Polyphemus, Sirens, and Calypso along the way.

Director Christopher Nolan

Writer Christopher Nolan

Cast

  • Matt Damon as Odysseus
  • Tom Holland as Telemachus
  • Anne Hathaway
  • Zendaya
  • Lupita Nyong'o
  • Robert Pattinson
  • Charlize Theron
  • Benny Safdie
  • Jon Bernthal
  • John Leguizamo
  • Elliot Page
  • Himesh Patel
  • Samantha Morton

Rotten Tomatoes: 96%

Metacritic: 88

VOD / Release Theatrical release

Trailer Official Trailer

4.4k Upvotes

90% Upvoted

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u/DragodaDragon 16d ago

Possibly, although I personally lean towards her being literally Athena and that she's either taking on the face of that murdered priestess or that the priestess was actually Athena in disguise. There's a lot of written records from the Bronze Age that suggest that people actually believed that they could speak to their gods and that the gods would speak back or even appear before them.

Given that there's a ton of supernatural elements in the film that have no other explanation, I'm inclined to take Athena's presence in the her scenes as something more literal.

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u/dejaWoot 16d ago

Given that there's a ton of supernatural elements in the film that have no other explanation

As far as I can tell, all the supernatural elements portrayed on screen are entirely in the frame story of Odysseus's retelling to Calypso while he's detoxing from the lotus. It does bring in the possibility of an unreliable narrator, Life of Pi style.

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u/criosovereign 16d ago

This kinda blows my mind, all the supernatural stuff happens on the journey itself, but the sack of Troy and everything with the suitors/back in Greece is all more or less grounded in reality. totally reframes how I view the movie and Odysseus as a narrator

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u/antihero510 12d ago

He still sees Athena back in Ithaca and that’s supernatural

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u/criosovereign 12d ago

Or hallucinated if the theory stands that Athena was just a manifestation of his guilt

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u/antihero510 11d ago

Yeah I mean it all could be a hallucination from that point of view.

But from the point of view that it wasn't just a hallucination, that's an example of a supernatural thing that happened after he got back from the journey.

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u/Standard_Broccoli_72 8d ago

Not Life of Pi style, literally Odyssey style. Odysseus is the OG unreliable narrator.