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We’re still months away from Christopher Nolan‘s The Odyssey coming to theaters, but it feels like the production has been simultaneously drip-dropping information about the film and holding off announcements for years. For example, we’ve long known that Nolan has assembled an incredible cast, including Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, and Zendaya. But outside of those few names, Nolan and co. have been reluctant to tell us who is playing whom in this big-budget take on the Heroic Greek tale.
However, Universal has finally released some more information. According to EW, the studio showed new footage from The Odyssey to attendees of CinemaCon last night. Presumably set early in the film, the scene found Matt Damon’s Odysseus talking to the figure who has held him hostage on an island for seven years. That figure, played by Charlize Theron, is Calypso.
For those who haven’t had a course in Classics, Calypso is a nymph (an ethereal creature less powerful than a goddess but more powerful than the average person) who traps Odysseus on the island of Ogygia. Calypso captures Odysseus as he travels home from the Trojan War and, immediately charmed by his good looks and ingenuity, devotes herself to him. Using magical songs and weaving on her golden loom, Calypso tries to convince Odysseus to marry him. However, he refuses and insists that he is faithful to his wife Penelope (Hathaway).
Although Calypso only appears in the first part of the story, she’s integral to The Odyssey. Not only does she effectively set the story in motion, keeping Odysseus away for seven years, but she also illustrates the stakes of the tale.
Odysseus is defined by his cleverness and his determination, as demonstrated by the way he refuses Calypso’s advances and by his attempts to escape. Those qualities will come up again and again throughout the story. However, Odysseus cannot leave Ogygia without the help of higher powers, namely Athena (Zendaya), who appeals to Zeus on his behalf. Zeus sends Hermes to deliver the news to Calypso, and after a bit of grouching about how it’s apparently okay for him to have affairs with humans but not her, she finally relents and gives Odysseus the means to leave.
The events only cover a couple books of The Odyssey, and they’re certain to be even shorter in the final film, which has to condense an entire epic to blockbuster length. For that reason, Theron’s casting makes perfect sense. She has both the presence as a performer and the screen history as a movie star to make an immediate impression, getting us viewers to believe that she had the power to keep Odysseus for so long.
And what of the other questions around the story? Who will be playing Zeus and Hermes? Who will Lupita Nyong’o, Elliot Page, or Samantha Morton be? We don’t have answers yet, and therefore have to beg the muses to tell us more, just like Homer himself.
The Odyssey arrives in theaters on July 17, 2026.
The post The Odyssey: Charlize Theron’s Character Confirmed appeared first on Den of Geek.
