# Sex, beds and grisly executions: what Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey changed, invented – and left out

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/sex-beds-and-grisly-executions-what-christopher-nolans-the-odyssey-changed-invented-and-left-out/
- Published: 2026-07-20T12:17:13+00:00
- Updated: 2026-07-20T13:14:38+00:00
- Original publisher: The Guardian (publisher lean: Left)
- Original article: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jul/20/the-odyssey-what-christopher-nolan-changed-invented-left-out
- Topics: Art, Culture, Entertainment, Film, Music

## Key points

- Nolan's Odyssey film trims many characters and scenes from Homer's poem
- Only Athena appears among the gods, as a vision to Odysseus
- Nausicaa, the Phaeacians and several underworld ghosts are cut
- Film invents new details, including Penelope's role in Melantho's death

## Summary

Christopher Nolan's forthcoming adaptation of The Odyssey makes significant changes to Homer's ancient Greek epic, trimming characters and scenes to fit the sprawling 12,000-line poem into a three-hour film. The Guardian outlines the most notable alterations, from omitted deities and famous encounters to invented plot details, showing how Nolan reshaped the source material for a modern cinema audience while preserving its core narrative.

Nolan largely strips out the gods, retaining only Athena (Zendaya), who appears to Odysseus (Matt Damon) as a vision representing his conscience rather than a fully realised deity, while Zeus, Poseidon and Hermes are absent entirely. The film also cuts the Phaeacians and princess Nausicaa, instead having Odysseus recount his adventures to Calypso (Charlize Theron); omits major figures from the underworld scene including Achilles, Ajax and Odysseus's mother; and softens the poem's grisly ending, though it invents a new detail in which Penelope (Anne Hathaway) pushes the disloyal Melantho (Mia Goth) into the slaughter of the suitors.

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