'The Odyssey' finally reveals Anne Hathaway and Tom Holland's roles — with a twist no one saw coming
Christopher Nolan's epic fantasy film, 'The Odyssey,' is among the most anticipated movies of 2026. Based on Homer's 'Odyssey', the highly anticipated movie stars Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong'o, Mia Goth, Robert Pattinson, and Charlize Theron in key roles. Slated for a Friday, July 17, 2026, release, the makers of the movie recently revealed the details about Hathaway and Holland's characters, making the wait harder than expected.
New images from Empire Magazine confirm the roles of Hathaway, Holland, and Goth in the upcoming epic. While Hathaway and Holland's roles match earlier speculation, Goth's casting comes as an unexpected reveal. The film follows Odysseus' homecoming journey, with Damon's role long established from the start. The newly released photos confirm that Hathaway will play Penelope, Odysseus' wife and the queen of Ithaca, a role that had been widely rumored earlier this summer, as per CBR. The newly released photos also confirm Holland's role as Telemachus, Odysseus' son, putting earlier rumors to rest. The biggest surprise, however, is Goth's character.
Though fans speculated she might play the enchantress Circe or perhaps Calypso, the images reveal she is actually playing Melantho, a maid in Odysseus' palace. As per reports, director Nolan and star Damon also discussed the film with Empire, teasing a groundbreaking production. Nolan revealed the movie contains "things that haven't been done before" and will be the first film shot entirely on IMAX cameras, adding that the team "shot over two million feet of film."
Damon called the project "exactly what you want of a summer movie" and "the best experience of my career." Reportedly, 'The Odyssey' is making cinematic history as the first narrative feature ever shot entirely with IMAX cameras, and the breakthrough came thanks to an unexpected test involving a child and a David Bowie song. Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema told Empire that he filmed IMAX test footage of a child reading Bowie's 'Sound and Vision' lyrics to determine whether the camera system could handle dialogue.
He added, "It was very touching: that level of intimacy in both image and sound, fused together, projected in the theatre," as per Variety. Nolan described the IMAX test footage as "electrifying," saying, "We never would have been able to get those shots before." The success of the test confirmed that he could finally shoot an entire feature using only IMAX cameras, something previously impossible because the cameras were too loud for close-up dialogue scenes. To solve this, IMAX developed a new, quieter film casing known as a 'blimp', which drastically reduces camera noise, helping make Nolan’s fully IMAX vision for 'The Odyssey' achievable.
