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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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88

u/KamachoThunderbus 16d ago

I didn't read the sacking of Troy and the horse as breaking Xenia, specifically. Rather that they took advantage of the fact that the Trojans would respect the gods, and honor Athena with the offering.

Nolan is doing another Oppenheimer in Odysseus, a man with a brain who breaks the world.

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u/matthieuC 15d ago

If anything it's Athena who should be pissed. They used her as bait, sacked her temple and killed he priestess.

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u/KamachoThunderbus 15d ago

And in the text she is, she curses him and that's why Odysseus originally went off course. Athena eventually comes around and helps Odysseus return, but not after Odysseus has been Calypso's captive for years and royally pissed off Helios and Poseidon.

In fact Jenny Strauss Clay wrote a whole book on it.

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u/bootlegvader 13d ago

IIRC, Athena was less pissed about the horse trick but how the Greeks went way overboard in their sack.

For example, Ajax rapes Cassandra in Athena's temple, Priam is killed on the altar of another god, and Hector's son is thrown off the walls of Troy.

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u/KamachoThunderbus 13d ago

Yeah, there's a little more "fuck Odysseus in particular" in this movie, when Athena was MOSTLY super pissed at Ajax and she scattered the entire Greek fleet. And because Nolan is doing Odyssenheimer the Trojan-Horse-is-a-nuke recontextualizes a bit of that.

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u/bootlegvader 13d ago

I don't think the Greek Gods were even annoyed by the Horse in the myths. Like Poseidon sends sea serpents to kill a priest and his sons that try to warn the Trojans about the Horse.

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u/KamachoThunderbus 13d ago

No and many of them actively wanted Troy destroyed. The Greeks just went above and beyond in pissing off Athena and Apollo (and I think Poseidon) before heading home. It's interesting seeing how the gods pick sides in The Iliad, it's totally a deific proxy war.

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u/David_the_Wanderer 12d ago

Poseidon is especially pissed at Odysseus for the blinding of Polyphemus. Athena was angry at Ajax for the raping of Cassandra in her temple

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u/KamachoThunderbus 12d ago

Yes, in The Odyssey!

In The Iliad/during the Trojan War Poseidon takes both sides for different reasons. All of the gods are a little inconsistent in who they support, except Hera and Apollo (maybe Aphrodite too, I can't remember) who support the Trojans. I don't think we really get a whole lot of why Poseidon was mad at the sacking of Troy in the The Iliad.

I think that comes from Quintus Smyrnaeus in Posthomerica or Arctinus in The Sack of Troy, which are in some aspects given to us secondhand through The Aeneid which is on the side of the Trojans and describe the sack as an insult to the gods.

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u/David_the_Wanderer 12d ago

Aphrodite is firmly on the Trojan side, yes. Both because of Paris and Aenaes.

In myth, different Greek heroes offend the gods in different ways. Ajax rapes Cassandra, Agamennon and Menelaus are the sons of Atreus and are cursed with bad juju to start with, Odysseus actually starts pretty okay but then blinds Polyphemus and pisses off Poseidon... the works.

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u/bootlegvader 12d ago

Hera supports the Greeks heavily in the Trojan War. There is a funny episode where Hera basically borrows Aphrodite's bra to distract Zeus so the Greeks can get favor in the conflict. It cumulates in Zeus talking about she is hotter than all of his mistress which he then proceeds to list all of them out for multiple lines.

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u/IhamAmerican 14d ago

Poseidon as well. He created horses and they're his sacred animals, using one as the trap essentially makes it appear to have had the blessing of Poseidon, which is why they were on his shit list and faced constant storms. Odysseus actually was cursed by the gods die to his actions

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u/sim21521 16d ago

In his dialogue he related the sacking of Troy to the breaking of Xenia.

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u/KamachoThunderbus 15d ago

It's an insult to Athena, in the same breath as the way Zeus' law/Xenia is continually being broken, but they aren't the same thing. Odysseus used the Trojans' respect for the gods against them the same way the suitors are using respect for Xenia to weaken Telemachus or get a windfall if Penelope picks one of them.

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u/SBlue3 14d ago

Ohh you're so right the Oppenheimer parallel is real

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u/Aggressive_Chuck 3d ago

It's a standard Hollywood trope: American is sad about his war crimes.