With less than two months to go before its July 17 release, Christopher Nolan is pulling back the curtain on some of The Odyssey‘s creative choices. In a new interview with Time magazine, the director has confirmed that Lupita Nyong’o will play two roles in the film, and explained why he handed rapper Travis Scott a part in an ancient Greek epic.
Lupita Nyong’o Is Playing Two Sisters
Nyong’o has been confirmed to play not one but two roles in the film. She will portray Helen of Troy, the legendary figure whose departure from Sparta with a Trojan prince set off the war at the center of Homer’s epic. Her husband, Spartan king Menelaus, is played by Jon Bernthal.
But in a twist woven into Nolan’s own adaptation, Nyong’o also plays Helen’s sister Clytemnestra, whose marriage to Menelaus’ brother Agamemnon, played by Benny Safdie, is by all accounts deeply acrimonious. The parallel lives of the two sisters give Nyong’o a rare opportunity to inhabit two very different women caught up in the same world-altering moment. She has done it before, her dual performance in Jordan Peele’s Us remains one of the more remarkable pieces of acting in recent memory, and the casting here feels equally deliberate.
Nolan has also taken creative liberties with how Helen and Menelaus’ reunion is handled, complicating what he felt was too neat a resolution in the original poem.
What Is The Odyssey About?
Based on Homer’s ancient Greek epic poem, The Odyssey follows Odysseus and his tumultuous ten-year journey home following the Trojan War. It is a sweeping tale that explores the tussle between free will and determinism, with Odysseus’ arc mirrored by that of his son Telemachus, whose own transition to adulthood is rife with obstacles. Back home in Ithaca, his wife Penelope waits while a group of relentless suitors attempt to claim her hand and the kingdom in Odysseus’ absence.
Nolan’s adaptation takes the bones of Homer’s poem and complicates them, giving more screen time to Odysseus and Telemachus’ relationship, humanizing figures like the sorceress Circe, and recontextualizing the role of Helen and Clytemnestra through the lens of Odysseus’ return. The aim, by all accounts, is not historical accuracy but a bold, modern retelling of a story that has captured human imagination since the 8th century BC.
Travis Scott, Bard of Troy
Now lets talk Travis Scott, whose presence in The Odyssey first raised eyebrows in January, when a television spot airing during Fox’s AFC Championship broadcast showed the rapper silencing a mess hall with the booming tap of a staff, announcing an impending war. The internet had questions. Nolan now has answers.
“I cast him because I wanted to nod towards the idea that this story has been handed down as oral poetry, which is analogous to rap,” Nolan told Time.
It is a characteristically considered Nolan move. Homer’s epic was never meant to be read quietly on a page — it was performed, recited, and passed down through generations of storytellers. Casting one of music’s most recognizable voices in the role of a bard is less a stunt than a structural argument about what the story actually is. Composer Ludwig Göransson was working from the same logic. Nolan instructed him to avoid a traditional orchestra entirely, instead building the score around 35 bronze gongs of varying sizes combined with synthesizers. “It’s not like the orchestra existed back then,” Göransson said. Nolan also drew a direct line between the lyre and Odysseus’ bow, using the pluck of the string instrument as a recurring sonic motif.
It also helps that Nolan and Scott have history. Scott contributed the track “The Plan” to Tenet‘s soundtrack in 2020, and Nolan has previously spoken about the rapper’s instincts as a collaborator in glowing terms.
A Film Full of Deliberate Choices
The dual casting and the Travis Scott decision are part of a broader pattern of considered, sometimes provocative choices that Nolan has made throughout The Odyssey. He opted not to place actors in the roles of the Olympian gods, instead conveying their power through the natural world around his characters, storms, seas, and the visceral fear those forces inspire. The one exception is Zendaya, who appears as the goddess Athena.
The Odyssey also holds the distinction of being the first film ever shot entirely in the IMAX format, with Nolan favoring practical effects and in-camera techniques over CGI wherever possible.
The Full Cast
Matt Damon leads the film as Odysseus, with Tom Holland as his son Telemachus and Anne Hathaway as Penelope. Robert Pattinson plays Antinous, the most persistent of the suitors laying siege to Ithaca in Odysseus’ absence. Charlize Theron portrays Calypso, Samantha Morton plays Circe, and the broader ensemble includes Corey Hawkins, John Leguizamo, Himesh Patel, Mia Goth, Elliot Page, and Will Yun Lee.
The Odyssey opens in theaters on July 17, 2026.