The Odyssey was formally announced in December 2024, and filming began in February 2025. However, in July 2025, nearly a year before its theatrical release, the film faced its first major controversy.
The production faced heavy criticism after filming scenes near Dakhla in Western Sahara. The disputed territory has reportedly been under Moroccan occupation for decades, leading to accusations that Nolan was whitewashing colonialism.
The Sahara International Film Festival issued a statement condemning the act and demanded that production stop immediately.
Festival director María Carrión said that by filming in the disputed territory, Nolan and his team were allegedly contributing to “Morocco’s repression of the Sahrawi people.”
The Polisario Front, the nationalist Sahrawi group seeking to end the occupation, also criticized the act, calling it a “dangerous form of cultural normalization.”
While the initial backlash eventually subsided, the film once again sparked a heated debate after debuting its first teaser in December 2025.
The footage featured Tom Holland’s Telemachus and Robert Pattinson’s Antinous, delivering dialogue many felt sounded too modern for the Bronze Age. Several critics noted that the cast used American accents, while words such as "dad" also divided viewers.
Despite criticism that the dialogue sounded too informal and modern, Nolan later defended his decision. Speaking to the LA Times, Nolan admitted that his decision stemmed from a desire to retell the classic in a fresh and modern way.
As a result, he relied on “language that has emotional, not intellectual meaning to people.”
“I wanted an earthy narrative. To me it was a no-brainer,” he added.
Around the same time, Nolan's casting choices drew fresh criticism after reports emerged that actress Lupita Nyong'o would be playing Helen of Troy.
Helen is traditionally depicted as being white, while Nyong'o is of Kenyan-Mexican descent. Her casting was heavily mocked online because many believed Homer described Helen as "the most beautiful woman in the world."
However, some scholars argue that description does not appear in Homer's epic and is instead a paraphrase of the ancient Greek poet Sappho.
Amid backlash, Nyong'o further stoked the controversy by admitting she hadn’t read the source material before being cast. In an interview with Elle, she revealed:
“I really had no idea what The Odyssey was. I was like, ‘Oh, snap, I don’t know the first thing about this.’”
The Oscar-winner also came under fire after suggesting that Homer’s source material sidelined female characters.
Helen of Troy wasn't the only casting decision to spark debate. Initially, it was rumored that Elliot Page, who came out as a trans man in 2020, would be playing the Greek hero Achilles.
Rapper Travis Scott's casting as a bard, along with the inclusion of non-Greek actors such as John Leguizamo, Zendaya, and Himesh Patel, also drew backlash, much of it rooted in racist and transphobic rhetoric.
Some critics even speculated that Nolan’s decision to assemble a more diverse cast stemmed from eligibility rules and inclusion standards necessary to qualify for the Oscars.
In an interview with The Telegraph, Nolan downplayed the casting backlash, deeming it “irrelevant.”
“These conversations that happen before people see the film. They’re always irrelevant, because no one having them knows what the film actually is yet,” he said.
However, the filmmaker’s comments led to further criticism, with some social media users calling his defense “tone-deaf.”
The film’s faithfulness to the source material became another point of contention ahead of its release. Shortly after the first look at Matt Damon’s Odysseus was released, the plumed helmet and red cape were criticized as historically inaccurate and unfaithful to Homer's description.
Similarly, Agamemnon’s matte black armor and helmet were deemed too bulky for the time period, drawing unfavorable comparisons to the Batsuit from Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy.
The plated armor worn by the Laestrygonians was also considered anachronistic.
Days before release, an image of Telemachus and Menelaus (Jon Bernthal) hunting reignited criticism of the costume design.
“The costuming is so terrible, I wish people focused more on that than on black actors,” one X user said.
The historical accuracy backlash extended to the ship used by Odysseus and his crew. Despite the characters hailing from Ancient Greece, critics found their mode of transport comparable to a Viking longship.
Author Emily Wilson, whose 2017 translation of Homer’s epic was cited by Nolan as an inspiration, was also critical of the director’s creative liberties. In an essay for the London Review of Books, she described the adaptation as “abysmal.”
“It lacks psychological, emotional, political and ethical depth. Its narrative structure is gimmicky,” she wrote.
