A TV spot for The Odyssey aired during the New England Patriots vs Denver Broncos AFC Championship game over the weekend, and the short trailer revealed Travis Scott’s speaking role and a new look at Tom Holland as Telemachus, Odysseus' son.
The Odyssey, written and directed by Christopher Nolan and due out July 17, 2026, is based on Homer’s saga, and is described as “a mythic action epic” shot across the world using brand new IMAX film technology.
The Odyssey's debut trailer, released last month, featured Matt Damon's Odysseus, the legendary Greek king of Ithaca, saying that after years of war, nothing can stand between his men and home. We then see Spider-Man star Tom Holland as Telemachus, Odysseus's son who is determined to find his father. A concerned Anne Hathaway, as Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, looks on.
This new promo, which soon emerged on YouTube and social media platforms after it was broadcast, starts with Telemachus asking questions about his absent father amid a gathering of soldiers. Menelaus, the Greek king of Sparta and Agamemnon's brother played by Punisher actor Jon Bernthal, calls for a story of Odysseus' adventures. We then see Scott tell the tale of Odysseus infiltrating the city of Troy using the legendary Trojan Horse. Menelaus looks at Telemachus as Scott’s character stands on a table to recount the story in dramatic fashion.
“A man,” Scott says. “A trick. A trick to break the walls of Troy. It's burning, screaming to the ground.”
“Let’s go home,” Matt Damon’s Odysseus declares after victory.
We saw a glimpse at the Troy tale in the debut trailer (which sparked a debate about historical accuracy). Trojan soldiers drag the Trojan Horse from the sea. Inside, Damon and his soldiers hide, silently. One soldier, cut by a sword that pierces the horse, is forced to stay silent by his desperate comrades. Other scenes teased in the debut trailer include the Cyclops, who enters a cave filled with soldiers, and the undead rising from the ground itself.
It's worth noting that The Odyssey isn't the first time Scott and Nolan have worked together. The American rapper and singer-songwriter recorded The Plan for the sountrack to Nolan's time-bending 2020 movie, Tenet.
Last week, Damon discussed how tough it was filming The Odyssey, which he said had a “profound” effect on him. In an interview with Netflix to promote new movie The Rip, Damon said he was still “unpacking” the experience of filming The Odyssey, but admitted “it did have a profound effect on me.”
“If I look objectively at what was required to do that job, I think it came at just the right time in my life,” he revealed. “I think I would've been miserable 20 years ago trying to do that job. Because you were uncomfortable every day, but I really enjoyed… like, deeply enjoyed every minute of it.”
Earlier this month, Damon revealed he slimmed down to his high school weight for the role. "I had a beard like yours for like a year," he told Jason and Travis Kelce on a recent episode of their podcast, New Heights. "I was in really good shape. I lost a lot of weight. [Nolan] wanted me lean but strong."
He also noted that a specific change in diet helped him get there. "Just because of this other thing that I did with my doctor, I stopped eating gluten,” Damon explained. “I used to walk around at between 185 and 200, and I did that whole movie at 167. And I haven't been that light since high school. So it was a lot of training and a really strict diet."
The Ocean’s Eleven star also told the hosts how training so intensely for the role felt like playing a season of professional sports. "I imagine what that feels like for you guys, where you're preparing," Damon said to the Kelces. "It's just part of your day, it's part of your job, and you get really routinized about it and kinda build your day around all that stuff."
The Odyssey is Nolan's 13th film, after previously helming Following, Memento, Insomnia, The Prestige, Inception, Interstellar, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Dunkirk, Tenet, and Oppenheimer. Such is the anticipation for the movie, that a limited number of The Odyssey tickets went on sale last summer — a year in advance of the film opening.
While Nolan has long been celebrated as one of the great directors of modern cinema, The Odyssey is expected to perform particularly strongly following the breakout success of Oppenheimer, the Cillian Murphy-led biopic that fuelled one half of the Barbenheimer phenomenon. Oppenheimer earned a staggering $975 million during its theatrical run, and walked away with Best Picture at the Oscars.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
source https://www.ign.com/articles/the-odyssey-tv-trailer-reveals-travis-scott-speaking-role-jon-bernthal-and-more-tom-holland