Universal confirms Christopher Nolan’s next movie, The Odyssey

Universal Pictures has confirmed that Christopher Nolan’s next movie will be The Odyssey, following the success of Oppenheimer. 

The filmmaker, behind blockbusters like Tenet, The Dark Knight, Interstellar and Oppenheimer, has planned his latest movie, The Odyssey. Universal Pictures confirmed the news via X (formerly Twitter).

It wrote: “Christopher Nolan’s next film ‘The Odyssey’ is a mythic action epic shot across the world using brand new IMAX film technology. The film brings Homer’s foundational saga to IMAX film screens for the first time and opens in theatres everywhere on July 17, 2026.”

The director has enlisted an all-star cast for the upcoming movie. Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson and Charlize Theron are set to star. 

Holland said in a recent podcast episode on The Dish that he signed onto the film despite not knowing many details about it. He said: “To be perfectly honest, I don’t really know what it’s about.

“I’m super excited, but it’s been pretty quiet about the project. I met with [Nolan] and it was awesome. He kind of loosely pitched what it is, and I’m sure when he’s ready he’ll announce what it’s about.”

The Odyssey is originally one of two ancient Greek poems by the poet Homer. It tells of the Greek legend of Odysseus who ventured home after the Trojan War.

Filmmakers used the poem as a basis for their films, including in a 1911 silent movie by Giuseppe de Liguoro, and in 1954’s Ulysses which starred Kirk Douglas. More recently in 2024, The Return adapted the last sections of the poem in the story.

Nolan and the studio’s follow-up to 2023’s huge moment in cinematic history is set to start production in the first half of 2025. The director will write and produce The Odyssey with his wife and film producer Emma Thomas, who is also behind some of Nolan’s biggest film hits.