I don’t know about you, but I absolutely love when a film can generate a big question for audiences to discuss amongst themselves. It’s one of the things Christopher Nolan is notorious for, and the filmmaker does again in The Odyssey. Ever since I saw the epic that is already one of the biggest 2026 movie releases, I’ve been thinking about what’s going on with Zendaya’s Athena. And, someone just asked Nolan about it.
SPOILERS AHEAD.
Even though Athena doesn’t have much screen time in The Odyssey, she has a centerpiece moment. Especially when Odysseus is reflecting on the Trojan War to Penelope once they finally reunite. There are many ways someone can interpret Zendaya’s character. Is Odysseus really conversing with a god or is she a symbol of his guilt? When he was asked him to clear it up, Nolan provided a diplomatic response:
I couldn’t possibly answer that because I learned very early on with Memento that it’s unfair to define the experience for the audience by answering questions like that. Here’s what I will say: For me, what was important was that we view the gods the way that people at the time might have viewed them. So they’re seeing evidence of the gods in nature. They’re seeking and finding gods and the influence of gods in the people around them.
Leave it to Nolan to leave one of his movies open-ended. (Don’t even get me started on the spinning top.) I guess I’m not at all surprised he deflected this question from Time. I definitely think that it was an intentional decision from the writer/director. I have a feeling he likes when there are a few different ways to process his work. Nolan also said this in the same interview:
Odysseus says to Telemachus, ‘Don’t look for gods in men. You’ll just be disappointed.’ And some of what Odysseus says about divinity, to me, is somebody who’s protesting a bit too much, someone trying to live in denial of their own instincts and their own practices.
What’s fun about Zendaya’s Athena character is that she alone makes me want to rewatch The Odyssey. I’d be curious how I might interpret her character upon a second viewing. The fact that she resembles a Trojan priestess who was beheaded in front of Odysseus during the war can lead one to make a number of conclusions. And, since Nolan’s adaptation plays around with both realism and the mystical, it’s not clear whether she’s real or not.
No matter how you see Athena in The Odyssey, I think the Drama actress’ performance is indisputably a huge highlight of the film. Sure, the film perhaps struggles with its amount of side characters, but it does nail down the message Nolan sought out to convey via Athena.
And, wildly enough, Zendaya shot the role at the same time as two other projects. She was also making Dune: Part Three and the final season of Euphoria simultaneously. And lately for the press tour, she’s been absolutely stunning us with red carpet fit after fit. All of that aside, though, I’ll definitely be thinking about Nolan’s comments on Athena and taking them into my next screening of The Odyssey, which is still playing in theaters nationwide.
