in costume as
Odysseus was noted for the historical inaccuracies in its design. Universal Pictures released a "surprise" first-look still image of Damon in costume as Odysseus in February 2025. Writing for
People, Jen Juneau labeled Damon's side-profile pose "brooding" and "intimidating", while Christopher Marc of
The Playlist praised it as "tantalizing". He expected that Nolan would use more digital effects than in his previous films due to the
Odyssey fantastical aspects. Various commentators and historians described the costume Damon wore—particularly its
Corinthian helmet with a red
plume—as historically inaccurate, both in terms of the armor Odysseus would have worn around the time the
Odyssey takes place and of what is described in the
Iliad.
/Film Jeremy Mathai noted the "version of ancient Greek attire popularized by countless movies over the decades" and said that, while the image did not provide much insight into the tone or Nolan's approach to the story and source material, he was excited for it. Writing for
Den of Geek, Joe George also acknowledged the costume's historical inaccuracies, but felt Nolan was paying homage to "
classic Hollywood" films from his childhood, such as
The 300 Spartans (1962) and
Jason and the Argonauts (1963), including the latter's stop-motion visual effects work by animator
Ray Harryhausen. He stated that while Nolan's "decision to veer towards old Hollywood instead of historical accuracy might surprise some", the director similarly incorporated aspects of films that influenced him in his previous works while still making them "feel original and of the moment". An extended six-minute prologue debuted on December 12, 2025, in front of IMAX 70 mm screenings of
Warner Bros. Pictures's films
One Battle After Another and
Sinners, followed by
Avatar: Fire and Ash upon its release on December 19.
Variety Daniel D'Addario described the prologue, which depicts Odysseus and his men using the
Trojan Horse at the end of the legendary
Trojan War, as a "carefully wrought story" that "play[ed] like a grand-scale epic" within the wider film, comparing the prologue to the Trojan Horse itself. He felt Nolan had not "lost his touch with delicately intercutting between various developments — the chaos of the warfare against the precision of the gears gradually turning in the Trojan wall's door — or for granular character detail in the midst of the spectacle". Writing for
The Daily Telegraph, Tim Robey stated that the "immediacy of this sequence as a race against time is very Nolan" and compared the "stifling claustrophobia" of being inside the Trojan Horse to sequences of capsized ships in Nolan's film
Dunkirk (2017). He called the prologue "an out-of-the-blue experience for many" that "bodes very promisingly for a take on [the] Homeric epic that's gritty, gruelling, and aptly awe-inspiring", while praising Göransson's "nerve-racking crescendo" increasing throughout the scene. Conversely, Robey felt the footage did not "stack up against" the "total knockout" bank heist IMAX prologue for
The Dark Knight. Tom Bacon at
ComicBook.com commended Nolan's "phenomenal ability to portray a sense of scale" and the cinematography of the scenes, which he called "breathtaking". He declared that the "stunning" sequences would make
The Odyssey "one of the most beautiful films of 2026". Journalist
Jeff Sneider similarly praised the footage as "incredible", highlighting Göransson's intense score "ramping up" and van Hoytema "tak[ing] advantage of stunning shadows". Universal Pictures and
NBC Sports, both owned by
NBCUniversal, coordinated on an advertisement starring Damon to cross-promote the
2026 Winter Olympics and
The Odyssey. A short promotional clip debuted during the
January 2026 NFL Wild Card playoffs, followed by the full teaser and a shorter version, respectively, airing during the Winter Olympics and the
Super Bowl LX pregame show. New footage was included in a minute-long TV spot that aired on January 25, 2026, during the
AFC Championship Game between the
New England Patriots and the
Denver Broncos. This featured a monologue scene with Holland, Bernthal, and rapper
Travis Scott, who previously contributed the
Tenet theme song "
The Plan".
Vulture Bethy Squires felt that Scott portraying a
bard was fitting because poems such as the
Odyssey were historically
sung-and-rapped-through. Frazier Tharpe at
GQ questioned whether Scott had a prominent role or a "glorified cameo", and called his appearance a "craftily placed" surprise for viewers, especially considering the high viewership of the game during
a major North American winter storm.
Trailer A 70-second teaser trailer for
The Odyssey featuring Holland's Telemachus and Bernthal's Menelaus debuted in movie theaters ahead of screenings for Universal's
Jurassic World Rebirth upon its release in July 2025, one year before
The Odyssey release; the teaser was leaked online soon after.
Vanity Fair Eléa Guilleminault-Bauer described the short teaser as previewing
The Odyssey "through suggestion and cleverly elliptical editing", while Hannah Hunt at
Collider highlighted the final scene of the teaser featuring Damon's Odysseus, unconscious and drifting in the ocean, and its thematic implications. Greg Evans at
The Independent wrote that the leaked trailer sent some fans "into a frenzy" due to its high anticipation, which Ryan Britt of ''
Men's Journal'' felt was warranted and described the teaser's "haunting nature" as promising "a myth actually brought to life". He highlighted Bernthal's "ominous" narration with a "touch of naturalism and realism", noting that Odysseus is talked about more than he is depicted in the teaser.
/Film Rick Stevenson wrote that the teaser continued Nolan's tradition of using an "often cryptic, vibes-first trailer, meant more to tease the mood of the film than to give away much in the way of plot or detail", but also found it to be "fairly substantive" compared to the similar teasers for some of Nolan's previous films. Erik Kain of
Forbes was concerned about the "muted" aesthetic and "drained" color grading, but compared it more favorably to
Ridley Scott's film
Gladiator II (2024), while Esther Zuckerman at
The New York Times felt the teaser was "coy about revealing too much of Nolan's take on Homer's saga". A shorter yet full-length teaser trailer debuted ahead of standard
Fire and Ash showings and was released online on December 22, 2025. Several commentators expressed enthusiasm for
The Odyssey based on the two-minute trailer and highlighted the scope of Homer's epic being depicted.
IndieWire Kate Erbland emphasized that the trailer "leans on the inherent drama and pain of the titular odyssey, including a few chilling deaths and a closer look at the leadership on display by our primary hero." Mireia Mullor and Nick Staniforth of
Total Film noted that, while some footage from the prologue was used, the trailer was an extended preview of the film compared to previous promotional material. Soumya Srivastava wrote for the
Hindustan Times that the trailer provided "tiny, mostly ambient sneak peeks into the story", while
Empire Ben Travis was impressed by the "tantalising glimpse" and pointed out the trailer's focus on the "wet and wild photography" and the Trojan Horse rather than featuring the supporting cast members—Pattinson, Zendaya, Nyong'o, and Theron—who had been excluded from previous footage released. Edward Segarra at
USA Today called the trailer montage "suspenseful" and dubbed Odysseus and Hathaway's Penelope "star-crossed lovers" like
Romeo and
Juliet, while Fran Hoepfner of
Vulture described their relationship as "one of the most Nolan-bait couples ever" by highlighting Odysseus's attempts to return home to his family. Conversely, Aimee Hart at
Polygon expressed dissatisfaction with the trailer's low online compression, which she felt indicated why Nolan had it debut in theaters. Ryan Britt at
Inverse acknowledged that some online commenters' reactions to the trailers being "boring" were justified, stating that the story's more fantastical adventure aspects were reserved for a theatrical experience. Some Greek publications noted further historical inaccuracies with the armor and ships depicted, which
Collider Julio Bardini felt were not fair and said that Nolan was allowed some creative liberties with his adaptation.
Gizmodo Germain Lussier said that a teaser poster released at that time, which featured a golden
backbone on Odysseus's helmet, was a "striking contrast" to the first-look image. He pondered interpretations of the backbone related to Odysseus's strength and character, and felt it served as Nolan's response to criticisms of historical inaccuracies. Entertainment data analytics firm WaveMetrix reported that the trailer accumulated 121.4 million global views within 24 hours across
TikTok (27%),
YouTube (26%),
Facebook (21%),
Instagram (18%), and
X (formerly Twitter) (10%), making it the eighth most-viewed trailer of 2025. This surpassed the trailer views for Universal's
Wicked: For Good (113 million) and more than doubled the views for the first
Oppenheimer trailer during the same time period.
Accent and dialogue controversy The film received online backlash over the use of
American accents by several cast members, with some viewers criticizing the decision as inconsistent with the conventions of
historical epic films, which have traditionally favored
British-style accents. Viewers argued that the film's use of contemporary American English dialogue felt
out of place and jarring for an adaptation of ancient
Greek literature.
The Hollywood Reporter commented that the characters sounded “like they’re from
Ohio” and “more
Ithaca, New York, than
Ithaca, Greece”, with some drawing comparisons to modern regional American speech patterns such as the
Boston accent. Erik Kain of
Forbes disliked the use of American accents for
Greek characters, stating that he would have preferred either regional
Greek dialects or
British accents for the film's characters, in line with the conventions of historical epic films. Questions were also raised over the decision to have
British actors such as Tom Holland and Robert Pattinson use American accents rather than their native British accents. Social media comments also mocked the film's
contemporary dialogue, including “daddy”, “my dad is coming”, and Odysseus shouting “let’s go” as a
battle cry, with dialogue compared to conversations outside a
Starbucks. Others argued that the use of contemporary American accents was preferable to artificial or historically inaccurate European accents, and suggested that the use of modern dialogue was intentional. Commentators noted that accurately depicting the
linguistic diversity of the
ancient world would be difficult, as ancient societies spoke a wide range of languages and
dialects; as a result, filmmakers often opt for a single consistent accent rather than
historical accuracy. Commentators also noted that earlier historical epic films, including
Spartacus and
The Ten Commandments, similarly featured American accents. Some commentators suggested that the film's use of American accents challenged long-standing
Hollywood conventions and
clichés surrounding historical epics, arguing that audiences may need time to adjust to the stylistic choice, though reactions still remained mixed. == Release ==