Nolan says he found a bit of Oppenheimer in The Odyssey's ending

Christopher Nolan is not one to discuss his movie endings at length, but a Q&A moderated by Robert Downey Jr. offered new insight. Speaking at the event, Nolan confirmed what many had suspected: the ending of The Odyssey deliberately echoes his previous film, Oppenheimer.

Nolan said he was writing the ending of The Odyssey and found "a bit of Oppenheimer in there." He added that as he wrote, he realized the ending was like "the ending of all my films rolled into one." The Odyssey's ending shows Odysseus sailing from Ithaca, haunted by memories of his actions in Troy, at a moment when society's boundaries seem to be collapsing. That mirrors Oppenheimer, where the lead character also wrestles with guilt over a world-changing event.

Downey Jr., who won Best Supporting Actor under Nolan's direction as Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimer, pointed out parallels between that film's ending and Dunkirk, noting a burning plane in Dunkirk resembled the Trojan Horse in flames during The Odyssey's Troy flashbacks. Downey Jr. commented that while it never feels like repetition, there are "concentric circles of plumbing new depths along these themes."

The Odyssey is set for home release on November 17 and has grossed over $1.8 billion. It stars Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, and Tom Holland, with early whispers that it could be a Best Picture frontrunner at next year's Academy Awards.