The Odyssey Trailer: Matt Damon Fights Monsters To Get Back Home In Christopher Nolan's Epic

Hold onto your historically inaccurate accents and stereotypical Greco-Roman crested helmets, folks, because Christopher Nolan is taking us back to school. The filmmaker's "The Odyssey" may be filled with enough artistic license to make your literature professor want to tear their own hair out, but since when have facts (as far as that goes when talking about Greek mythology, of course) ever gotten in the way of enjoying a good ol' fashioned Hollywood epic? With all due respect to superheroes and "Star Wars" and anything else vying for the year's blockbuster crown, this is the cinematic event of the summer, and it clearly has the goods to back that up.

Months after dropping an official "Odyssey" trailer that gave us our first look at what Nolan has up his sleeves, Universal Pictures has finally released another batch of footage to get audiences even more hyped up. It's doubtful that anyone's truly on the fence about seeing this retelling of the tale of the ultimate wife-guy, Odysseus (Matt Damon), and his attempts to return home despite all the monsters in his way ... but it's worth removing any doubt all the same. And if the visuals of a bearded and scruffy Damon wasn't enough, may we help you to a hefty dose of Anne Hathaway as Odysseus' love Penelope, Tom Holland as their son Telemachus, Zendaya as Athena (not Meechee!), Robert Pattinson as Antinous, and almost too many other A-list stars to name?

This is what the big screen was made for, and you can bet that IMAX HQ is already licking their chops at the breathtaking imagery on display. To be entirely fair, we are, too. Check out the new trailer above!

The biggest takeaway from this trailer isn't the epic scope, or the presence of mythical monsters. Instead, the first thing that stuck out to me here is the dialogue. Specifically, how modern it sounds. It seems Nolan has made the interesting, and potentially controversial choice to have the characters speak in an informal, modern-day manner. Hell, at one point, bad guy Robert Pattinson uses the word "daddy," which is a little jarring.

Typically, historical epics have the cast speak in a proper, formal way, and almost everyone adopts a kind of British-ish accent to make the whole thing sound, well, classical. But Nolan isn't doing that. Indeed, rather than have everyone put on a fake Brit accent, he's going for an American sound, as evident by the way Brit actors like Pattinson and Tom Holland are both using American accents here. 

I'm not quite sure how his will go down overall. We've all become accustomed to that stiff, formal dialogue when it comes to historical epics like this, and Nolan opting not to take that approach is bold, to say the least. Beyond all that, I think this trailer looks appropriately entertaining, and there's even a little humor thrown in, like when Matt Damon's Odysseus says he thinks the Cyclops is asleep (spoiler: it's not). "The Odyssey" opens in theaters on July 17, 2026.