Christopher Nolan has never been shy about the long arcs of obsession that run beneath his career, but even by his standards, his upcoming summer 2026 epic, “The Odyssey,” carries a surprisingly deep lineage. In the new issue of Empire (via Reddit)—his first substantial on-the-record conversation since the “Oppenheimer” victory lap—the filmmaker reveals that his connection to Homer’s world predates Syncopy, Batman, and even prestige-blockbuster Nolan as we know him. In fact, long before he became synonymous with IMAX cameras and labyrinthine storytelling, Warner Bros. had once hired him to direct the 2004 swords-and-sandals epic “Troy.”
“I was originally hired by Warner Bros. to direct ‘Troy,’” Nolan told Empire. “Wolfgang [Petersen] had developed it, and so when the studio decided not to proceed with his superhero movie ‘Batman Vs Superman,’ he wanted it back. Fair enough. But at the end of the day, it was a world that I was very interested to explore. So it’s been at the back of my mind for a very long time. Certain images, particularly. How I wanted to handle the Trojan horse, things like that.”
It’s a revelation that quietly ripples back through studio history. Petersen’s 2004 version of “Troy,” starring Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Peter O’Toole, and Diane Kruger, was a substantial commercial hit—nearly $500 million worldwide—but a mixed-to-cool critical performer. At the time, Warner Bros. had been circling multiple big-budget tentpoles, including Petersen’s aborted “Batman Vs Superman,” and Nolan’s involvement with “Troy” was largely unknown until now. The film ultimately steered the studio toward Petersen’s preferred vision, while Nolan moved on.
But there’s additional context that surfaced months ago on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. Franchise screenwriter David S. Goyer recalled that after Petersen reclaimed “Troy,” Warner Bros.—aware that Nolan had likely been stung to lose the project—offered him “Batman Begins” as what Goyer jokingly called a “consolation prize.” That “consolation prize,” of course, became one of the most influential superhero films of the modern era and launched an era-defining trilogy.
Two decades later, Nolan is finally taking his own swing at the Homeric world—but on a scale that’s closer to “Dunkirk” meets a mythic fever dream than anything resembling Petersen’s grounded war epic. “The Odyssey” is led by Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, Jon Bernthal, and many more. The teaser—released only in cinemas in July—sent Reddit, TikTok, and the broader myth-nerd internet into a frenzy, with fans freeze-framing waves, caves, and fleeting silhouettes for evidence of gods, monsters, or even Poseidon’s trident.
In the Empire conversation, Nolan frames his choice of story not as a return to something he lost, but as the natural culmination of decades of thematic obsession. “As a filmmaker, you’re looking for gaps in cinematic culture, things that haven’t been done before,” he says. “And what I saw is that all of this great mythological cinematic work that I had grown up with—Ray Harryhausen movies and other things—I’d never seen that done with the sort of weight and credibility that an A-budget and a big Hollywood, IMAX production could do.”
After “Oppenheimer,” Nolan disappeared from the industry rumor mill long enough for wild speculation to fill the rumor vacuum—vampires, “The Prisoner,” even a reboot of “Blue Thunder.” All turned out laughably false. But “The Odyssey” had been simmering for years, its roots stretching back not just to childhood but to the studio shakeups of the early 2000s. And if he lost “Troy,” he now gets something undeniably larger: the foundational myth itself.
“The Odyssey” opens July 17, 2026.
