‘The Odyssey’: 11 TV Shows & Movies Like Christopher Nolan’s Epic Film
If you saw The Odyssey and left the theater wanting to stay in that cinematic world, you aren’t alone. The Christopher Nolan film is bound to ignite interest in TV shows and movies about ancient Greece/Greek mythology.
By happy coincidence, there are several Greek mythology adaptations currently on TV and in theaters alongside Nolan’s latest movie. But there are also titles that are similar to Nolan’s Odyssey that aren’t set in the same world or circumstances, nor are they Homer adaptations.
The Odyssey is one of the oldest stories ever told and is the foundation of the hero’s journey in storytelling. So, there are too many TV shows, movies, and books inspired by it to be able to count. But if you’re looking for TV shows and movies that, like Nolan’s, are direct adaptations of The Odyssey or Homer, or are about Ancient Greece/Greek mythology in general, we’ve got you covered with the list below.
We’ve also included some titles that aren’t based on Greek mythology, but that we feel share enough DNA with Nolan’s movie to be noteworthy.
The Green Knight
David Lowery‘s 2021 film starring Dev Patel is based on Arthurian legends, not Greek mythology, but we’d argue that it’s more similar to Nolan’s film than any other movie in recent years that weren’t made by Nolan himself, in both storytelling and visual landscapes.
The Green Knight follows King Arthur’s headstrong nephew, Gawain (Patel), as he embarks on a daring quest to complete a bet made with a mysterious creature in a test of chivalry, honor, and truth. The film depicts stunning, vast terrains and mythical creatures (including giants that feel similar to Nolan’s Polyphemus) and witches.
Nolan’s Odyssey and Lowery’s The Green Knight are both horror stories about the downfalls of civilizations. While this Gawain doesn’t have the same noble reputation as Matt Damon‘s Odysseus, The Green Knight and The Odyssey take legendary characters dating back thousands of years and send them on a journey to question who they are and what they’ve done and show viewers the dark aftermath of previously glorious conquests.
Streaming on Tubi, Netflix, Fandango, and YouTube (free with ads)
Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Season 1 of the Disney+ teen series features a journey to see Hades in the underworld, and Season 2 is basically the plot of The Odyssey, without the fall of Troy and, obviously, in a kid-friendly context. If you want to show your kids The Odyssey but they’re too young for Nolan, Percy Jackson is the way to go.
In Season 2, like Odysseus and his crew, the demigods fight laestrygonian giants and the cyclops Polyphemus (they name-drop Odysseus while they’re at it), have to escape from Circe’s island and the animalistic spells that come with it, and use wax to cover their ears/tie Percy to a ship’s mast when sailing past the dangerous sirens. They also face Charybdis and Scylla on the Sea of Monsters. They did all of this over the course of eight days.
Percy (Walker Scobell) and his cyclops half-brother Tyson (Daniel Deimer) are the sons of Poseidon (Toby Stephens). Annabeth (Leah Sava Jeffries) is the daughter of Athena (Andra Day). And Thalia (Tamara Smart) is the daughter of Zeus (Courtney B. Vance).
Streaming on Disney+
Hadestown: The Musical
This Tony-winning musical by folk singer Anaïs Mitchell will scratch your Greek mythology itch, but it’s purely a love story, albeit a tragic one. A live performance with original Broadway stars was filmed in the West End last year, and it’s now in theaters for an extended theatrical run after a hit opening weekend at the box office. It’s also still on Broadway. If you want a full day of Greek mythology at the movies, you could plan a double feature of The Odyssey and Hadestown while the latter is still in theaters.
There are no great battles fought in Hadestown other than the one in Orpheus’ (Penny Dreadful‘s Reeve Carney) mind as he tries to walk out of Hell to save his great love, Eurydice (Eva Noblezada), from an eternity in the underworld with Hades (The Gilded Age‘s Patrick Page).
If you know the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice, you know how this tragedy goes. But interestingly enough, in this version, it’s Hades who is challenged to awaken himself to the horrors he’s created in the world through a deep, unnecessary desire for power and need for control.
In Theaters, Streaming Premiere TBA
The Sandman
An adaptation of the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice is also featured in The Sandman Season 2 Episode 5 on Netflix.
In the episode, Dream (Morpheus, Greek god of dreams, played by Tom Sturridge) tells the tragic story of how his son, Orpheus (Ruairi O’Connor), tried to save his wife, Eurydice (Ella Rumpf), after she was bitten by a snake on their wedding day. You don’t have to watch the entire Sandman series to understand this episode; it functions fairly well as a standalone piece.
Streaming on Netflix
Oppenheimer
We wanted to keep this list free of other Nolan film recommendations just for the sake of variety, but Nolan’s Oppenheimer themes are too similar to his take on The Odyssey to ignore.
All of Nolan’s recent films show a director deeply concerned with the state of humanity. Oppenheimer explores the man who created the atomic bomb, unleashing horrors on the world never seen before. Like Odysseus, J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) achieved a marvelous feat with the invention of a unique weapon of war, but at what cost to humanity, and how long will the consequences of those decisions linger throughout history?
Available to Rent/Purchase on Digital Platforms
Troy
Troy is the most similar to The Odyssey in setting and source material among this list. The 2004 film tells the story of the fall of Troy from Homer’s Iliad (Trojan horse included), with Achilles (Brad Pitt) as the main character. Achilles isn’t in Nolan’s Odyssey, although there were rumors that Elliot Page was playing him, but Odysseus, Agamemnon, Menelaus, and Helen of Troy are characters in the movie, played by Sean Bean, Brian Cox, Brendan Gleeson, and Diane Kruger, respectively. It also stars Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Rose Byrne, Garrett Hedlund, and more.
Troy was directed by Wolfgang Petersen and written by David Benioff, who would go on to co-create Game of Thrones with D.B. Weiss. Bean and James Cosmo (Glaucus) were cast in the HBO drama, which came out seven years after Troy in 2011.
Streaming on Peacock
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
Here’s another kid-friendly Odyssey adaptation. The 2004 animated film is a loose adaptation of The Odyssey and envisioned as an underwater adventure for SpongeBob and Patrick. In it, they cross paths with versions of a cyclops and Scylla/the sirens, among other similarities. Plankton is like Antinous in this story, trying to take advantage of his adversary’s absences back at home.
Streaming on Paramount+
The Odyssey
The NBC miniseries from 1997 tells the story of Homer’s Odyssey, with Armand Assante as Odysseus, Greta Scacchi as Penelope, Isabella Rossellini as Athena, Vanessa Williams as Calypso, Bernadatte Peters as Circe, with additional cast including Christopher Lee, Eric Roberts, Irene Papas, and more. It follows Odysseus’ long and difficult journey home from the Trojan war.
Streaming on YouTube, Tubi, Prime Video
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
The Coen Brothers’ comedic musical is an adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey, but set during the Great Depression in 1930s rural Mississippi. It stars George Clooney, John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson as a trio of prisoners who scam their way off of a chain gang and pursue freedom, meeting a band of colorful characters along the way.
Available to Rent/Purchase on Digital Platforms
Battlestar Galactica
This sci-fi series is as far away from the visual world of Ancient Greece as you can get, but it is an odyssey.
Battlestar Galactica follows the last human survivors of a nuclear attack fleeing through space aboard an aging warship while hunted by robotic Cylons. Led by Commander William Adama (Edward James Olmos), they journey through space hoping to get home to a mythical Earth.
Their journey parallels that of The Odyssey as they battle countless enemies during a prolonged voyage home after a catastrophic war.
Streaming on Paramount+
Rome
Two Roman soldiers and their families endure the fall of the republic in this HBO drama starring Tobias Menzies, Ciarán Hinds, Kevin McKidd, Polly Walker, and more.
It’s a tale of Ancient Rome, not Greece, but if you’re looking for historical fiction/period drama that’s not fantasy after The Odyssey, this is a good bet. Plus, it’s similar to The Odyssey in that it depicts the fall of an ancient civilization.
Streaming on HBO Max
Watchlist Easy access to only the shows you care about — all in one simple place
Alerts Only important notifications — when a show is returning, when it becomes available to stream, and more.
Special Offers Exclusive products we release related to your favorite shows and streaming services