The Odyssey's Biggest Change To The Epic Poem Is Crucial To Making The Film Work
The Odyssey (2026) is a truly massive film, with Christopher Nolan pushing his blockbuster experience to the limit with an adventure that takes place across dangerous oceans and encounters monstrous threats. In many ways, the film could be classified as a war film, an adventure story, and a scary movie. It’s also a solid retelling of one of culture’s most memorable tales of enduring love, with Odysseus and Penelope refusing to give up hope that they could be reunited despite the efforts of man, monster, and god to separate them.
This is a key emotional throughline of Nolan’s movie and takes clear inspiration from the original epic poem. However, it’s complicated somewhat by the source material’s views on romance and commitment being rooted in perspectives that feel very outdated by modern expectations. This is all to say that the Odysseus of the original myth had two other lovers during his adventures back home, a trait that had to be cut from 2026’s The Odyssey film if audiences were going to still root for him.
Odysseus Remains Faithful To Penelope In Nolan's 'The Odyssey'
One of the key elements of Odysseus’s journey in The Odyssey is his enduring love for his wife Penelope, which is why he never actually engages with Calypso romantically when she captures him for years. While Odysseus is haunted by guilt over his influence on the wider world and is scared to return home to see what has become of it, he continues on his journey primarily so he has a chance to see his wife and son again. This drive is a big part of what keeps him going even when the quest seems impossible, a sentiment shared by Penelope and Telemachus back home in Ithaca, where they must contend with the increasingly frustrated and dangerous suitors.
It’s this connection that keeps Odysseus from firmly remaining under the spell of Calypso, who uses the memory-dampening Lotus Flowers to keep him on her island for years. While she is able to heal his body and falls in love with him, she finds that she can’t sway his heart toward her. This is why she allows him to leave her island, giving him the advice he needs to finally be reunited with her. It’s a powerful moment of love outlasting everything else the world has to offer, and it only works because Odysseus is faithful to his wife, something that isn’t as concrete in the source material.
The Original Odysseus Hooked Up With Calypso And Circe
It’s important to remember when considering ancient texts like Homer’s The Odyssey that times have changed and views on relationships have evolved. That’s likely why most modern takes on the story of Odysseus and Penelope cut the long affairs that the Greek King has in the original story. In that era, it wouldn’t be uncommon for men to have those kinds of dynamics with others and still be considered faithful and dutiful husbands and kings. That’s why in the poem Odysseus gives in to Calypso’s attraction and has a physical relationship with her.
While his yearning to return home eventually gives way to the gods allowing him actually to make it back home, he still spends years sleeping with Calypso in a beat that modern audiences would have likely balked at given his otherwise deep commitment to Penelope. Odysseus even hooked up with Circe for a year after their initial encounter. In other stories by later poets, they even had multiple children together, who found themselves entangled in Odysseus’s life. It’s the sort of thing that was more acceptable in that era and would have likely broken the modern audience’s sympathies for Odysseus.
Why Odysseus Couldn't Cheat On Penelope For Nolan's 'The Odyssey' To Work
The decision to alter those dynamics is crucial to allowing modern audiences to still root for Odysseus in his quest to return to Penelope. It’s a key way that Odysseus retains motivation, explaining why he refuses to give up his quest and just settle down for safety and comfort on one of the other islands. It’s why he refuses to give up his quest to return home even as his soldiers fall beside him. That long-awaited reunion being followed by a peaceful exile to the west serves as a happy ending for both Odysseus and Penelope, giving them time to just be together once more amidst a wild world.
It’s not the only time an adaptation of Greek mythology for modern times has softened the original story for current sensibilities. Disney’s Hercules (1997) makes a staggering number of changes to the source material. The Odyssey needed to make this change to work as a narrative in modern contexts, where otherwise his undying love would have felt far more insincere if he spent a year fathering children with Circe or over half a decade living with Calypso. It’s a good reminder that every adaptation has to tweak and change elements of its tales to accommodate different times and is a great example of how the emotional arc of a classic story can be maintained even as the details are changed.
