‘The Odyssey’ Timeline, Explained
Few movies boast the epic scope of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey (2026). The fantasy epic brings Homer’s Odyssey to life in vivid detail, capturing the perilous, mythical journey of Odysseus (Matt Damon). With a budget of $250 million, it’s the most expensive film Nolan has ever made. The epic scale of The Odyssey is warranted, given that the story follows a 20-year journey.
Of course, the limits of a 3-hour runtime make it difficult to capture the full length of time conveyed in Homer’s poem. Nolan makes do by revisiting the past in fragments of flashbacks and memories, stitching the timeline together non-linearly. While it adds suspense and emotion, it can make it difficult to keep it straight when everything happens and across how many years. Fortunately, you can use our guide for a chronological breakdown of The Odyssey’s timeline.
The Trojan War Starts
The Odyssey is set around 1200 B.C., during the Bronze Age. Much of the story takes place after the Trojan War’s conclusion, but a few flashbacks and discussions reveal a couple of key pre-movie events. Telemachus’s (Tom Holland) conversations with King Menelaus (Jon Bernthal), as well as flashbacks of Odysseus and Penelope (Anne Hathaway) shortly after the birth of their son, explain how the war started offscreen.
The event that kickstarts the whole story is when the Trojan prince, Paris, abducts Menelaus’s wife, Helen (Lupita Nyong’o). It’s a grievous violation of Zeus’s law, but it’s not the only motive for the war. Menelaus’s brother, King Agamemnon (Benny Safdie), is eager to “help” and sack Troy for his own wealth and power.
Odysseus Joins the War
Odysseus joined the Trojan War shortly after the birth of his and Penelope’s son, Telemachus. While he’s reluctant to join, and Penelope harbors a dream of running away, Odysseus fears what may happen if he doesn’t join the war.
In particular, he fears his young son may meet the same fate as King Agamemnon’s daughter and be sacrificed to the Gods if he doesn’t join. Hence, he joins the war effort and holds a lottery to choose his army.
The 10-Year War
The Odyssey only shows the climax of the Trojan War, when Odysseus devises a plan to infiltrate Troy’s walls by hiding inside a large wooden horse presented as a gift. The plan succeeds, giving his men access to Troy, where they open the gates to allow King Agamemnon and his men to sack the city and retrieve Helen.
However, you may not realize that the climactic scene took 10 years to reach. Odysseus and his men spent 10 years traveling to Troy and floundering on its beaches trying to find a way in. The passage of time is evident in the fact that Cinon (Elliot Page), recruited as a boy, is a man by the time the soldiers reach Troy. While their victory at Troy should have marked the end of their journey, it marked the start of yet another decade-long journey.
Agamemnon and Menelaus Return Home
King Menelaus tells Telemachus that he and King Agamemnon parted with Odysseus after Troy, taking a different route home. While they had difficulties, it presumably took them only a few weeks or months, as opposed to the years-long journey that awaited Odysseus.
However, their homecoming wasn’t what they expected. Upon returning home, King Agamemnon’s wife, Clytemnestra (Nyong’o), murders him as revenge for sacrificing their daughter. Meanwhile, King Menelaus disfigures his wife Helen’s face to prevent her from being taken again.
Odysseus and His Men Meet Polyphemus
Odysseus and his men take a longer route home, eventually landing on an island in search of supplies. The men follow a herd of sheep into a cave, only to be startled by the arrival of an enormous cyclops, Polyphemus (Bill Irwin). Polyphemus traps the men in his cave, savagely eating two of them. He keeps the men trapped, crushing and eating them upon their escape attempts. Finally, the men conspire to blind Polyphemus and escape by blending in with the sheep when he lets the herd out of the cave.
However, in a moment of impulsivity and cruelty, Odysseus decides to fire another arrow at Polyphemus as he and his men leave the cave. Both the blinding of Polyphemus and the final shot at him serve as the catalyst for the rest of Odysseus and his men’s trials. Their behavior toward Polyphemus enrages the Cyclops' father, Poseidon, putting them at the mercy of the sea.
The Laestrygonians
After escaping Polyphemus, Odysseus and his men arrive on another island, hoping to find supplies and shelter. Instead, they come across an oversized child, who quickly summons a large army of armor-clad giants: The Laestrygonians. The Laestrygonians brutally kill a large swath of Odysseus’s men and destroy nearly all of the boats in his fleet. In the end, only one boat, bearing Odysseus and a handful of his men, makes it away from the Laestrygonians in one piece.
Meeting Circe
After narrowly surviving the Laestrygonians, the men spot a small island with an isolated house. Docile, exotic animals, including a lion and panther, surround the home. The men approach the home looking for food while Odysseus explores the island alone. In the home, they’re relieved to find a seemingly harmless woman, Circe (Samantha Morton), who agrees to feed them. Circe, though, is actually a witch and begins to mold each man into a gruesome swine.
Meanwhile, Odysseus shoots a deer, only to find its body transformed into that of a man. He rushes back to the house, where he deduces Circe has turned all his men into pigs. Fortunately, he’s able to convince Circe to return his men to their “disguises” as humans, and they leave without losing any more of their crew. Before they leave, Circe advises Odysseus to travel to the Underworld for the guidance he needs to get home.
Travel to the Underworld
Odysseus and his men travel to the Underworld, where Odysseus speaks to the shade of Tiresias (James Remar). He provides Odysseus with guidance that contains many hard truths, including warning him that all of his men will ultimately die.
In the more immediate future, he predicts Odysseus and his men will come across the sea monsters Charybdis and Scylla, and must choose which to face. After speaking with Tiresias and the shade of Sinon, the men flee the Underworld as the fallen men Odysseus failed to honor give chase.
Charybdis and Scylla
Following Tiresias' guidance, Odysseus and his men find themselves in the strait between Charybdis and Scylla. Only Odysseus knows of Tiresias’ warning: if he chooses to sail closer to Charybdis, he and all his men die, but if he chooses to sail closer to Scylla, only six of his men will die. The boat comes across the whirlpool of Charybdis’ maw, but sails away from it. As predicted, Scylla’s six heads quickly pick off and kill six of Odysseus’s men.
The Sirens
The next trial Odysseus and his men face is the Sirens. Tiresias warned that the irresistible allure of the Sirens’ song would tempt them and attract them to their death. Odysseus is prepared, though, ordering his men to put wax in their ears to block out the sound.
Curious to hear the song, Odysseus has his men tie him to the ship's mast. Despite his screams and cries of agony, his men refuse to let him go to the Sirens. Only one man is overcome with curiosity, taking the wax out of his ears and leaping off the boat toward the Sirens as soon as he hears their song.
The Last Stand on Thrinacia
Close to three years have passed since the end of the Trojan War when Odysseus and a dwindling number of his men spot Thrinacia. With both the wind and sea against them, the men beg to go ashore. Odysseus, thanks to Tiresias, knows Thrinacia harbors the sacred cattle of Helios and that, if his men slaughter even one of the cattle, they will all die. Still harboring hope that he can somehow save his men, he makes them all swear not to kill the cattle.
Of course, as time goes on and hunger sets in, the men finally break and hide from Odysseus to kill and eat a cow. Shortly after Odysseus discovers them, a momentary calm settles over the sea. He and his men take advantage of it, rushing to their ship and setting sail. However, their fate has been sealed after killing Helios’ cow. Poseidon strikes down the ship, fulfilling Tiresias’ prophecy by killing the last of Odysseus’s men.
Seven Years With Calypso
Odysseus is the sole survivor after the shipwreck. He and pieces of his ship wash up on Calypso’s (Charlize Theron) island. She nurses him back to health, but he struggles to recall the war and the three-year journey from Troy.
After a while, Calypso admits that she’s the cause of his muddled mind, having fed him lotus flowers to make him forget his desire to go home. However, her confession comes a bit late, as she reveals the crushing news that she kept him on her island under the influence of lotus leaves for seven whole years.
Homecoming
Armed once more with his memories, Odysseus builds a raft to leave Calypso’s island and finally makes it back to Ithaca, 20 years after he first left. There, he finds his castle and home overrun by suitors vying for his wife’s hand.
Along with Telemachus, he concocts a plan to reveal his identity by participating in a challenge to string his old hunting bow and shoot an arrow through a row of axe heads–a feat he once did for entertainment. After revealing his identity, he fights, killing several suitors until the remaining ones surrender.
Exile
While Odysseus initially reclaims his home and castle, he ultimately decides to give it up. After his 20-year journey home, he abdicates the throne to Telemachus. Meanwhile, he and Penelope set sail on a new journey of self-imposed exile. They sail west into the sunset on their journey to honor Odysseus’s fallen men and find peace.
