Tom Holland Will Reportedly Be The Lead In Christopher Nolan's Upcoming Version Of 'The Odyssey'

Pretty huge news outta Deadline today - according to one random quick tidbit in this article, Tom Holland will reportedly be the lead in Christopher Nolan's next movie, 'The Odyssey'....

You may be reading this thinking, "Didn't we already know he'd be in this movie?!" and the answer to that question is yes, but the word on the street was that Matt Damon would actually play the lead role. All rumors indicated as such, along with everyone's guesses on the cast....

….and I'm almost positive Odysseus is much closer to Damon's age than Holland's - but hell, maybe this take on 'The Odyssey' focuses more on Odysseus's son Telemachus?! Or they're each playing Odysseus, but the young/old versions? That could mean EVERYBODY'S right, right?! I haven't read this shit since seventh grade, though, so I don't know if/how that would work. 

I gotta admit, though, the idea of a Tom Holland-led Christopher Nolan movie excites me more than a Matt Damon-led Christopher Nolan movie at this point. I love Matt Damon, don't get me wrong, but he's definitely in that space of kinda just being Matt Damon in every role now. He can barely avoid it, and I don't even think it's his fault - but when he shows up in 'Oppenheimer' it's such a "Oh there's Matt Damon" moment….and it's hard to lose him in the character after that. I felt the same way about him in 'Air', and to a degree, 'Ford v Ferrari'. I think there's less of a mental hurdle watching Nolan turn Holland into a legit Academy-respected actor (despite him already being Spider-Man) than there is in Nolan once again making us forget who Matt Damon is. 

All of this being said, the original "source" of the news just feels like a throwaway line buried in the middle of an article simply to mention his casting, and Matt Damon may be the lead after all….and you know what? I'll still be first in line. I'm sure he'd fucking crush it and be able to shove his Best Actor Oscar up my ass for writing this blog in a few years. It's not like he's a bad actor - he's just kinda "Matt Damon" in everything. And he's gonna be one of the main characters no matter what, so it's not like they're battling it out for a role. Get used to it! Matt Damon will be in 'The Odyssey'!

Personally, I think I'm most interested to see how Christopher Nolan handles the big CGI sequences in this movie, which are obviously gonna be necessary to a story involving a giant Cyclops and whatnot. I think there's this narrative that Nolan hates special effects so much that he'll never ever use them, and while he definitely goes practical as much as possible - I think sometimes people forget he made the god damn Dark Knight trilogy. There's plenty of CG used in all three of those movies when looking through the lens of Scarecrow's fear toxin, on Harvey Dent's face when half of it is burnt to a crisp by the Joker, on "The Bat" flying through the skies of Gotham in 'Rises' - he's not always diametrically opposed to it at all times. 

Someone went viral on Twitter recently for suggesting he'll utilize stop motion techniques similar to how 'Skeleton Crew' (and of course the original Star Wars trilogy) have….

….and I think that's a pretty great guess - they've perfected the mix of practical/CGI there. And I swear I don't mean this as an insult to the guy, but you have to cast 'Oppenheimer' alum Benny Safdie as the Cyclops, right?

Rob Kim. Getty Images.

AGAIN, IT'S NOT AN INSULT -  BUT HE LOOKS LIKE HE SHOULD BE THE CYCLOPS! I'M SORRY!

'The Odyssey' is currently slated to hit theaters worldwide on July 17, 2026.