The epic blockbuster will release on July 17.

The Odyssey reveals Charlize Theron’s mythical character in new CinemaCon footage

The epic blockbuster will release on July 17.

By Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel is a news writer at **. He began writing for EW in 2022.

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April 15, 2026 10:24 p.m. ET

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Charlize Theron in Los Angeles on March 10, 2024. Credit:

Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

- New footage from *The Odyssey* revealed Charlize Theron's character from Homer's epic poem.

- Director Christopher Nolan said that the movie was "an absolute nightmare to film" on stage at CinemaCon.

- *The Odyssey* releases in theaters on July 17.

*The Odyssey* shared our first glimpse of Charlize Theron's mystical character at CinemaCon.

Christopher Nolan appeared at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas on Wednesday to present new footage from his adaptation of Homer's epic during Universal Pictures' presentation. The biggest takeaway from the footage: Theron is playing Calypso, the mythical nymph who holds Odysseus against his will for years.

The teaser opens with footage of Matt Damon's Odysseus washing up on a beach alongside the wreckage of a ship.

"How long have I been here, Calypso?" he asks as Theron's character appears on the shore.

"A long time," she responds.

Matt Damon in 'The Odyssey'.

Universal Pictures

"I don't remember anything before Troy," he says, confused. "Did I have a wife, children, maybe a son? If I had a son, how old would he be now?"

The preview then cuts to footage of Tom Holland's Telemachus as he begins a conversation with Jon Bernthal's Menelaus, who tells him the story of the Trojan Horse.

From there, the footage cut to the pulse-pounding sequence featuring Damon, Bernthal, and dozens of other soldiers bursting out of the Trojan horse, which was already released as an extended preview in theaters.

Christopher Nolan in Paris on July 11, 2023.

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty

On stage at CinemaCon, Nolan explained what attracted him to *The Odyssey*. "This is a story about family," he said. "This is a story about a father's desperate journey to return home."

The *Dark Knight* filmmaker also candidly reflected on the challenges of the movie's production. "This film has been an absolute nightmare to film," he said. "But in all the right ways. We had an amazing time doing it."

The film also stars Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Benny Safdie, Himesh Patel, Elliot Page, Mia Goth, John Leguizamo, Bill Irwin, Samantha Morton, Jesse Garcia, and Will Yun Lee.

Damon, who worked with Nolan on *Interstellar* and *Oppenheimer*, previously spoke about his experience shooting *The Odyssey* in gorgeous locations in Greece, Morocco, and Iceland during an interview with Travis and Jason Kelce on their podcast *New Heights*.

"We would get there, and I'd just start laughing," he said. "I'd be like, 'Nobody has any business shooting here! Of course, he wants to shoot here. That tracks.'"

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He continued, "He has such a great crew. His crew is so badass. And everybody just maxed out on that movie, and we made all of our days. We actually finished ahead of schedule. It was an awesome experience."

The actor also explained the technical innovations that allowed Nolan to shoot the entire film with IMAX cameras.

"IMAX cameras are really loud. It sounds like a blender, like a Cuisinart in your face when the camera's close to you. So there's never been these dialogue [scenes in IMAX]. We couldn't have this conversation with a normal IMAX camera because you wouldn't be able to hear us," Damon said. "They built this giant thing around the IMAX for those dialogue scenes and a system of mirrors so your eyeline would be close to the camera and you could talk to the other actor."

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Holland recently teased *The Odyssey*'s quality. "I can tell you that it is an absolute masterpiece, and I’m taking myself out of that equation," he told *GQ*. "Chris Nolan’s movie is fantastic. It’s unlike anything that I’ve ever seen before. I think when I saw the movie, I found myself asking a question that I haven’t asked about a movie for a long time, which is, 'How did you do that?'"

*The Odyssey* sails into theaters on July 17, 2026.

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