I went into The Odyssey feeling optimistic about Christopher Nolan's adaptation of Homer's epic poem. Having only just read the story within the past year, I won't pretend I marched into the 2026 movie with a list of things that absolutely needed to be done to my scholarly satisfaction, but my fingers were crossed for something special. Overall I loved the movie, and it definitely helped to deepen my appreciation for the story. Amidst its three-hour runtime, we got fascinating characters, incredible (and sometimes terrifying) imagery and a thoughtful approach to depicting the impact of war. There was also one sequence that completely blew my mind, and I doubt I'm alone.
Seeing how Odysseus and his men carried out his plan to sneak into Troy inside the horse was nothing short of riveting. So you can imagine how floored I was this week, when I learned that the concept of the partially submerged horse was something Nolan had been noodling around with since he was attached to direct a movie more than two decades ago.
