Christopher Nolan has revealed that he did not drop his upcoming film ‘The Odyssey‘ out of nowhere; the seeds go back more than 20 years. In an interview with Empire Magazine, Nolan said Warner Bros. originally brought him on board for Troy, long before he ever imagined building a blockbuster career around Gotham City. The studio later pulled the movie back, and that shuffle eventually led him to Batman Begins.
How Nolan landed ‘Troy,’ then watched it slip away
Nolan told Empire that the studio hired him when Wolfgang Petersen briefly stepped aside from Troy. “I was originally hired by Warner Bros. to direct ‘Troy.’ Wolfgang Petersen had developed it, and so when the studio decided not to proceed with his superhero movie ‘Batman Vs Superman’, he wanted it back,” he said.
Nolan remembered feeling drawn to the material from day one. “At the end of the day, it was a world that I was very interested to explore… Certain images, particularly. How I wanted to handle the Trojan horse, things like that,” he added.
That window closed fast. Petersen, coming off hits like ‘Air Force One’ and ‘The Perfect Storm,’ returned to the project and reclaimed it. Warner Bros. shifted Nolan to something else the studio considered lower stakes at the time – Batman Begins. He called it a “consolation prize.” That “consolation” turned into three films that reshaped the superhero genre.
What happened when ‘Troy’ finally hit theatres
Petersen’s version came out in 2004 with an A-list cast – Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom and Diane Kruger. Critics did not exactly fall for it, but audiences showed up.
According to Variety, the movie earned nearly $500 million worldwide. A year later, Batman Begins landed and reset Warner Bros’ entire superhero strategy, with Nolan’s trilogy becoming one of the studio’s most successful runs.
Nolan circles back to Homer with ‘The Odyssey’
Now he is returning to the world he once almost entered. The Odyssey features Matt Damon as Odysseus, Tom Holland as Telemachus and an ensemble cast that includes Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron and Jon Bernthal.
Nolan also told Empire what drew him in this time. “As a filmmaker, you’re looking for gaps in cinematic culture… I’d never seen that done with the sort of weight and credibility that an A-budget and a big Hollywood, IMAX production could do,” he said.
Universal releases The Odyssey on July 17, 2026.
FAQs
Why did Christopher Nolan lose Troy?
Warner Bros. gave the film back to Wolfgang Petersen after he returned to the project.
What did Nolan receive instead?
The studio offered him Batman Begins, which he called a “consolation prize.”
Why did Nolan want to adapt “The Odyssey”?
He said he had not seen mythological epics made with IMAX-level weight and scale.
