An Exclusive Look at the Women of The Odyssey
5 min readChristopher Nolan’s highly anticipated adaptation of Homer’s The Odyssey, out from Universal Pictures on July 17, had no small challenge set before it. To describe The Odyssey as an “iconic” work of literature would, of course, be correct—but it would fail to capture the magnitude of what is widely considered one of the most important writings in human history. Bringing that magnitude to the big screen would require…well, a Homeric effort. And so Nolan pulled out all the stops, assembling a cast of A-list actors that would include Matt Damon and Tom Holland as father-son duo Odysseus, the long-absent king of Ithaca, and Telemachus, Ithaca’s remaining prince.
The Odyssey might be so named for its mythological leading man, but Nolan seems to have understood how profoundly Odysseus’s decade-long journey home from war is influenced by the women in his orbit. After all, Odysseus sets out for the Trojan War, in the first place, on account of Helen of Troy’s abduction. Years later, his struggle to return home—and to the arms of his wife, Penelope—is aided and challenged by Athena, the goddess of war, and the sea nymph Calypso. Each of these roles in Nolan’s film is filled by fittingly “iconic” actresses: Anne Hathaway as Penelope; Zendaya as Athena; Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy (and her sister, Clytemnestra); and Charlize Theron as Calypso.
As the cover stars for ELLE’s summer 2026 issue, Hathaway, Zendaya, Nyong’o, and Theron each shared insights from their time on the set of The Odyssey. Alongside the exclusive photos below, get an inside look at their characters ahead of the film’s long-awaited release.
Anne Hathaway as Penelope in The Odyssey.
Anne Hathaway as Penelope
The Oscar-winning Hathaway plays Penelope, the queen of Ithaca, wife to Damon’s Odysseus, and mother to Holland’s Telemachus. As Odysseus spends 10 years at war and another 10 fighting to get home, she remains in Ithaca, where she must reject more than 100 suitors eager for her hand—and for a taste of her power.
In her ELLE cover story, Hathaway shared her thoughts on portraying such a stalwart monarch. “We think about Penelope as a model of patience,” she said. “But I was interested in the raw edge of her. I was interested in the fury, the emotion, and the passion that she would have had to ride for [Odysseus] for those 20 years.” She added, “In a time when so many marriages were made for political convenience, [Odysseus and Penelope] chose each other, and they understood what they had and that not everybody gets that.”
Asked about working with the actress for the third time—Hathaway also starred in Nolan’s films The Dark Knight Rises and Interstellar—Nolan himself said, “There’s a maturity to her performances now. It’s not that something was missing before, it’s just it’s developed, as moving through life develops us all. Her work has a sense of quiet calm to it that’s really remarkable….She’s never satisfied with what she’s done in the past, or what she’s doing in the moment. She’s always striving for something just beyond her grasp.”
Zendaya as Athena in The Odyssey.
Zendaya as Athena
As Athena, Zendaya portrays the goddess of wisdom but also of war. She serves as a guide and protector of Odysseus during his travels.
The actress juggled multiple other projects, including Euphoria season 3 and Dune: Part Three, while making time for her Odyssey scenes. As she told ELLE in her cover story interview, “I remember being on set for Euphoria; it was a night shoot at a ranch. I was so tired, but I was also learning my Chakobsa lines for Dune. And then I started writing out my lines to memorize for that quick turnaround trip I was going to make to Iceland [for The Odyssey].” She continued, “It’s not like I have a lot of lines in The Odyssey, but I was working with Christopher Nolan! The most embarrassing thing in life would be messing up my lines, which did happen once.”
But Nolan seemed to have had no concerns about the actress’s capabilities. “We would be in the maddest, craziest situations, just all of us fighting the elements, tearing our hair out, all these things going on, and she would sort of parachute in from her other job with this sense of true grace and poise,” he said.
Zendaya stars in The Odyssey alongside Holland, her Spider-Man co-star and fiancé. Although the two of them do not share any scenes together in Nolan’s film, she got to watch Holland as Telemachus while on set. “I could have cried, I was so proud,” she said.
Lupita Nyong’o as Clytemnestra in The Odyssey.
Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra
Lupita Nyong’o stars in a fascinating dual role: She portrays both the legendary Helen of Troy as well as Clytemnestra, Helen’s sister.
Helen of Troy is the daughter of the god Zeus and the mortal Leda, as well as the wife of King Menelaus of Sparta. When she’s kidnapped on account of her famous beauty, her disappearance prompts the beginning of the Trojan War itself, for which Odysseus leaves Ithaca. Meanwhile, Helen’s sister, Clytemnestra, is the wife of Agamemnon, himself a brother to Menelaus and the commander of the Greek army seeking to bring Helen home.
In her ELLE cover story, Nyong’o said of playing Helen, “I was so deeply honored to be entrusted with the role. I mean, she is iconic. What more can I say?”
Added Nolan, “The strength and the poise were so important to the character of Helen. And Lupita makes it look effortless. I’m sure there’s a tremendous amount of discipline and training that goes into projecting that kind of poise and feeling the emotion bubbling beneath the character, the layers of the character right there underneath. She’s just an incredible person to work with, and I was absolutely desperate for her to do the part.”
Charlize Theron as Calypso and Matt Damon as Odysseus in The Odyssey.
Charlize Theron as Calypso
Finally, Charlize Theron plays the sea nymph Calypso, a goddess who holds Odysseus captive on the island of Ogygia for seven years. She longs for him to remain there with her in perpetuity, but the god Zeus ultimately orders Calypso to release the king so he may return to Ithaca.
Asked in her ELLE interview if she views Calypso as “a villain, a tragic figure, or just a woman who fixates, as many of us have, on an unavailable man,” Theron responded, “I see her as all of those things and also none of those things.” She continued, “I was given a chance to do something that I haven’t had a ton of opportunity to do, because she’s a little bit of everything. That’s what’s so beautiful about her. And a lot of people on their own cast me in this movie, and they cast me very differently. It was a real opportunity that Chris gave me to do something that didn’t feel like typecasting.”
She added, “Even though [Calypso is] a goddess, she is really longing for connection. And it was interesting to look at somebody with the powers that she has, but who still really couldn’t do that much with them. And not that I want to make a direct correlation to it, but there’s something to be said about women living their lives today in a powerful manner, and yet a lot of our rights are being taken away every single day.”