The Odyssey Returns

Christopher Nolan is bringing Odysseus to Morocco.

His adaptation of Homer's Odyssey — scheduled for 2026 — is filming across the country, making it the largest production in Moroccan cinema history. The cast includes Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, and Charlize Theron. The format is IMAX 70mm, Nolan's signature. The scale is unprecedented.

The location is not accidental.

The Odyssey describes a journey through the western Mediterranean and beyond — into waters the Greeks considered the edge of the world. The Lotus Eaters, the Cyclops, Circe, the Sirens, the entrance to the Underworld — all were placed, in Greek imagination, somewhere past the Pillars of Hercules. Somewhere like Morocco.

Nolan is shooting where the myth always pointed. The Atlantic coast for the journey's end. The mountains for Polyphemus's cave. The ancient kasbahs for Circe's palace. The geography isn't doubling for Greece — it's playing the role Homer originally wrote for it.

Morocco has hosted mythological and historical epics before. "Gladiator" built Rome here. "Game of Thrones" built Essos. "Kingdom of Heaven" built Jerusalem. But those productions used Morocco as a stand-in for somewhere else. The Odyssey is different. This time, the landscape is playing itself — the western edge, the unknown, the place where heroes go to be tested.

The production is expected to run through 2025. Exact locations are closely guarded, but the Ouarzazate studios are involved, along with coastal sites and mountain locations. The Moroccan film commission calls it a landmark moment for the industry.

When the film releases in 2026, audiences will see Morocco as the ancient Greeks imagined it: the end of the known world, full of monsters and magic, where a man could lose himself or find his way home.