In his latest blockbuster, “The Odyssey,” Christopher Nolan takes on one of the oldest and most iconic stories in recorded history.
Likely composed sometime between the late seventh and late eighth century, “The Odyssey” is an epic poem that draws on a tradition of oral storytelling, folklore, and ancient Greek mythology.
Nolan’s version features an array of A-listers as mythical figures, including Matt Damon as the hero Odysseus, Tom Holland as his son Telemachus, Zendaya as the goddess Athena, and Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy.
Keep reading for a guide to the cast and characters in Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” and their importance in the original text.
Matt Damon plays Odysseus, the hero of the story.
As its name suggests, “The Odyssey” centers on Odysseus, the king of Ithaca.
Although Odysseus is ostensibly the hero, he’s depicted as a morally complex character. He’s an archetypal trickster — sharp, persuasive, and cunning — which helps him win the favor of Athena, the goddess of wisdom. However, his deception and arrogance also earn him a powerful enemy in Poseidon, the god of the sea.
Before the events of “The Odyssey,” Odysseus fought in the Trojan War alongside his friends and Greek allies, including Menelaus and Agamemnon. (More on them later.)
The conflict lasted for 10 years and finally ended when Odysseus, inspired by Athena, proposed hiding in a hollow wooden horse to breach Troy’s defenses. The Greek army brutally sacked the city and emerged victorious — but while all the other soldiers returned home with spoils of war, Odysseus and his crew remained lost at sea.
“The Odyssey” famously begins “in media res,” or “in the middle of things.” When the epic poem introduces Odysseus, he has already been trying to reach his homeland for 10 years.
Tom Holland plays Odysseus’ son, Telemachus.
Telemachus was a baby when Odysseus set sail for Troy, so in “The Odyssey,” he’s in his early 20s.
Despite his young age, Telemachus is described in the poem as prudent, thoughtful, and level-headed. In Odysseus’ absence, he should be treated as the man of the house, yet he’s constantly disrespected by the men who hope to marry his mother.
Still, Telemachus is devoted to protecting his mother and their home. With encouragement from Athena, who appears to him in disguise, Telemachus decides to go out in search of news about Odysseus. He meets with Nestor, the king of Pylos, then with Menelaus and Helen in Sparta.
Anne Hathaway plays Odysseus’ wife, Penelope.
Penelope has been waiting for a decade for her husband to return from war — two decades, if you count the war itself. She remains fiercely loyal to Odysseus and resists her suitors with subtle trickery: by day, she weaves a burial shroud, and by night, she unravels her progress. She says she must finish the shroud before she can remarry.
Much like her husband, Penelope is clever and resourceful — but she can’t stop these men from ransacking her home, killing her sheep, wasting her food, and threatening to seize her family’s wealth. Her stalling tactics have worked thus far, but she’s running out of time.
Mia Goth plays Penelope’s maid, Melantho.
Melantho is an enslaved woman in Odysseus and Penelope’s home. In Odysseus’ absence, she tends to Penelope as a maid, although her loyalty is questionable.
John Leguizamo plays Eumaeus, a goatherd and faithful servant to Odysseus.
Eumaeus was born into a noble household. As a child, he was trafficked and sold as a slave.
Eumaeus is depicted as humble, generous, and dependable. In Emily Wilson’s 2018 translation of “The Odyssey,” he is described as the one who “cared most about preserving / the master’s property.”
Robert Pattinson plays Antinous, one of Penelope’s suitors.
Antinous is a prominent suitor competing for Penelope’s hand in marriage. His father knew Odysseus personally, but that certainly doesn’t make him more respectful in Odysseus’ home; Antinous is cruel to Eumaeus and plots to murder Telemachus. He also catches on to Penelope’s trick with the shroud.
Zendaya plays the goddess Athena, who is particularly fond of Odysseus.
Athena is a daughter of Zeus, the pinnacle of Greek gods. According to myth, Zeus swallowed Athena’s mother to prevent her from giving birth, but Athena continued to grow and sprang out from her father’s head, fully armed.
Athena is associated with intelligence, strategy, and warfare. She can shapeshift into birds of prey, usually owls, and frequently adopts other disguises to covertly interact with humans and influence their decisions. In fact, Athena was a major player in the Trojan War, protecting some soldiers while punishing others.
In ancient Greek mythology, the gods are not beacons of morality or guiding lights so much as they’re super-powerful, immortal beings who pick favorites and wreak havoc on a whim; Athena’s favorite human is Odysseus, and she goes to great lengths to help him survive.
Charlize Theron plays Calypso, a minor goddess who traps Odysseus on her island.
At the beginning of “The Odyssey,” Odysseus has been stranded on Calypso’s island for seven years.
Calypso rescued Odysseus when he washed ashore, and the poem implies that he enjoyed her company (and her bed) for a while. After all, Calypso is a beautiful goddess, and her island is described as a lush paradise. She hopes to turn Odysseus immortal, “to set him free / from time and death forever.”
And yet, over time, Odysseus has become distant and morose. He yearns to return to his mortal life and family on Ithaca.
“His eyes were always / tearful; he wept sweet life away, in longing / to go back home, since she no longer pleased him,” Wilson’s translation reads.
Lupita Nyong’o plays Helen, whose abduction sparked the Trojan War, and Clytemnestra.
Helen is the queen of Sparta, married to King Menelaus. She is often described as the most beautiful woman in the world, or, “the face that launched 1,000 ships.”
At the urging of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, Helen was stolen away by the Trojan soldier Paris. This action sparked the Trojan War, the impetus for Odysseus’ journey.
Helen appears in “The Odyssey” when she and her husband, Menelaus, host Telemachus in Sparta. She is depicted as gracious, empathetic, and conflicted over her role in Telemachus’ grief.
In Nolan’s version of the story, Helen and Clytemnestra — the wife of Menelaus’ brother, Agamemnon — are twin sisters.
Jon Bernthal plays Helen’s husband, Menelaus, the king of Sparta.
Menelaus waged a war to win back his wife, Helen. Now that it’s over, his brother is dead, and his friend Odysseus is missing, he’s both triumphant and grieving.
Menelaus is also angry to hear that suitors have taken over Odysseus’ home and disrespected his son: “May all their lives be brief, their weddings cursed!” he tells Telemachus.
Benny Safdie plays Menelaus’ brother, Agamemnon, the leader of the Greek forces in the Trojan War.
Agamemnon, the king of Mycenae, led the Greek army to victory over the Trojans. However, when Agamemnon returned home from the war, he was killed by his wife, Clytemnestra, and, in some of the story versions, his wife’s lover, Aegisthus.
Agamemnon appears as a spirit in Book 11 of “The Odyssey,” when Odysseus visits the house of Hades.
“So you must never treat your wife too well. / Do not let her know everything you know,” the spirit of Agamemnon tells Odysseus. “Tell her some things, hide others. But your wife / will not kill you, Odysseus. The wise / Penelope is much too sensible.”
Samantha Morton plays Circe, a sea nymph who turns men into pigs.
In Book 10 of “The Odyssey,” Odysseus tells the story of his journey thus far. Before he was stranded on Calypso’s island, he and his crew encountered other gods and mythical creatures that slowed or thwarted their progress — including the Lotus-Eaters, the Cyclops, and Circe.
Circe is a sea nymph and daughter of Helius, the sun god. In some translations, she’s described as a witch.
When Odysseus’ ship landed on her remote island of Aeaea, she used magic potions to turn half his crew into pigs.
Using inside information from Hermes, the messenger god, Odysseus convinced Circe to transform the pigs back into men. The crew remained on her island for the next year, recuperating and feasting.
Himesh Patel plays Eurylochus, an assertive member of Odysseus’ crew.
Eurylochus is the rare man in Odysseus’ crew who’s willing to stand up to the captain. He tends to be suspicious, stubborn, and headstrong; he chastises Odysseus of making rash choices and putting the crew in danger. (In the poem, Odysseus says he considered killing Eurylochus for this, but decided against it.)
As Odysseus tells his story, we learn why Odysseus washed up on Calypso’s island alone — and Eurylochus’ role in the crew’s ultimate doom.
Years into their journey, Eurylochus persuaded Odysseus to dock their ship on the island of the sun, despite multiple warnings against it.
He then persuaded the rest of the crew to poach the island’s cattle, which are sacred to the sun god. According to Odysseus, Eurylochus told the other men that he’d rather be struck down by the gods than die of hunger.
Ryan Hurst plays Mentor, an old friend of Odysseus.
Mentor remains with Odysseus’ family in Ithaca during the Trojan War. He looks after Telemachus and defends him against the suitors.
In Book 2, Athena disguises herself as Mentor to help Telemachus prepare for his journey.
Elliot Page plays Sinon, a Greek warrior who doesn’t actually appear in Homer’s “The Odyssey.”
Sinon is a character from Virgil’s “The Aeneid,” which tells the story of the Trojan War’s climactic end.
Sinon is the one who convinces the Trojans to take the giant wooden horse inside their walls, which allows the Greek soldiers to sack the city.
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