What’s next from the Odyssey Cinematic Universe?

Ash Walker • 03 Aug 2026 Features

Sing to me again, O Muse.

Well, it looks like The Odyssey is doing well. The latest movie from acclaimed director Christopher Nolan sailed to an epic opening weekend at the global box office, driven by a starry ensemble cast, immense hype and an outbreak of IMAX fever, and shows no sign of slowing down any time soon.

It’s currently sitting at a healthy $911million - not bad for an adaptation of a 3,000-year-old poem about a bloke just trying to get home from work. But what lessons will Hollywood learn from this monumental success?

Will we be looking at sequels? Prequels? A full-blown Odyssey Cinematic Universe? We ask the gods for the gift of prophecy, and imagine what might be to come if the movie industry learns all the wrong things. As it usually does.

The Iliad

Let’s start with the obvious one. Also by Homer, the blind poet responsible for The Odyssey, The Iliad tells a story set during the final weeks of the Trojan War, making it perfect material for a prequel.

Odysseus is a supporting character here - which means you’d only need a de-aged Matt Damon for a few days of shooting - the story instead focusing on unbeatable hero Achilles (maybe Brad Pitt could have another crack at the role?) and his feud with Agamemnon (that guy who looks like Batman and leads the Greek armies). It all culminates in an epic fight between Achilles and the Trojan prince Hector.

This has been (sort of) adapted before by Wolfgang Petersen as the 2004 sword-and-sandal epic Troy, but it’s ripe for a new version featuring some of the cast of The Odyssey - and maybe even directed by Nolan himself.

Imagine Nolan directing that final duel between Achilles and Hector! It’d be like Batman vs Bane all over again, ending not with a broken back but with some devastating heel trauma. Epic stuff.

The Telegony

A sequel to The Odyssey? Yes, believe it or not, it exists, and it’s enough to get studio execs salivating all over Hollywood.

Rather than more of the same - don’t worry, Odysseus doesn’t get lost again - the action this time pivots to a new character, Telegonus, the secret love child of Odysseus and… Circe?! This one might take a little adjusting, as in the movie the encounter with the witch Circe equates to little more than a short horror film, and it seems unlikely that even Odysseus could have sired a kid under such circumstances.

A little tinkering could easily switch to Calypso, though. Remember all that time Odysseus spent on a desert island with Charlise Theron, under the influence of some lotus flowers of dubious origin? Well, what if they had a kid, and now the boy was out to meet the father he never knew?

In the original story, Telegonus ends up killing Odysseus through a series of misunderstandings, which is certainly ripe for drama. And the whole thing ends with him returning to Circe’s island with Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and Telemachus (Tom Holland), where they’re all granted immortality. So that’s nice.

The Aeneid

If there’s one thing Hollywood execs love, it’s more of the same. So the existence of another ancient epic about a hero escaping the fall of Troy seems like a no-brainer.

Written by the Roman poet Virgil, The Aeneid follows a Trojan hero called Aeneas, who flees the ruins of the great city - insert Matt Damon cameo here - and embarks on an epic journey to rival that of Odysseus, featuring storms, gods, monsters and his own descent into the Underworld.

Ultimately, Aeneas fulfils his destiny as the founder of the civilisation that will one day become Rome, giving this a slight Dune flavour. Could they get Denis Villeneuve to direct? Timothee Chalamet to play Aeneas? Seems like a slam dunk.

The Titanomachy

Was The Odyssey a little too grounded for your tastes? Here’s where the franchise can go really bananas, telling the foundational story of the ten-year war between the gods and the Titans.

It’s all here - monsters, magic and epic, Avengers: Endgame-style action. There’s intrigue, backstabbing and god-on-god violence. There’s even a group of giants with one hundred arms and fifty heads, which would really be something to see in IMAX.

And the best part is, it’s all a massive prequel - an origin story for a whole sprawling cast of gods and heroes. Think of all the spin-offs! Zendaya-starring Athena movie confirmed?

The Greek Heroes

Of course, it doesn’t all have to be about Odysseus. There are tons of other heroes in the Greek myths that would be ripe for adaptation.

Somehow, there’s never been a proper big screen adaptation of the Twelve Labours of Hercules. Maybe because it starts with the big man murdering his own family in a drunken rage? Well, Dwayne Johnson has been looking to get his teeth into more dramatic roles, and he’s got some history with the character, having played him on screen in 2014.

We’ve seen a few other heroes hit the multiplex in the past, too - most notably Perseus (Clash of the Titans) and Jason (Jason and the Argonauts). But rebooting beloved characters is something that Hollywood has never shied away from. Who wouldn’t want to see Perseus outsmart Medusa for the fiftieth time?

They could go a little more obscure, though. The legend of Daedalus (and his more famous son Icarus) could play like a Bronze Age Iron Man, with the genius inventor imprisoned against his will and forced to invent things for his captors. He and his son can even fly, using their state-of-the-art wings… with a pretty big asterisk, of course. 

Or how about Theseus and the Minotaur? This one could be a full-on horror movie, as the hero navigates a dark, claustrophobic labyrinth, pursued by a monstrous creature. Maybe give Weapons director Zach Cregger a call - he has a lot of experience wrangling underground monstrosities.

Of course, all of these movies will build up to the inevitable Avengers-style crossover - through cameos and post-credits scenes - in which all of our heroes and gods must team up to face an even greater multiversal threat. Possibly an incursion by gods from another pantheon…

Odysseus versus Thor, anyone?