Tom Holland says his whole family sobbed after watching The Odyssey

Christopher Nolan is about to send The Odyssey into theaters, and right before launch we got a very on-brand Tom Holland anecdote: at the world premiere, his whole family cried... and then his mom told him she had no idea he was in it that much. Peak mom energy. Also, somehow, peak Holland secrecy.

Tom Holland broke his family (and then cracked them up)

Holland plays Telemachus, son of Matt Damon’s Odysseus and Anne Hathaway’s Penelope. After the screening, he says emotions were high, tissues were low, and then mom dropped a curveball. Here’s how he told it at the world premiere:

"After the movie finished, the credits are rolling, there’s not a dry eye in the house, and then my mom puts her hand on my knee and goes: 'I didn’t realize you had such a big part on this!'"

The man apparently kept his own screen time under tighter wraps than a plot twist. To be fair, Telemachus is a major thread in this version: while Odysseus fights to get home after the Trojan War, Telemachus and Penelope are in Ithaca fending off increasingly dangerous suitors, including Robert Pattinson’s Antinous. Zendaya shows up as Athena, the goddess who has a close, guiding connection to both Telemachus and Odysseus, which puts Holland squarely in one of the film’s core storylines.

Nolan, going even bigger (again)

The Odyssey is Nolan’s latest technical flex: shot entirely on IMAX film cameras, cut to a hefty 172-minute runtime, and carrying a reported $250 million production budget. It’s his next massive swing after the Oscar-winning Oppenheimer, and early reactions are already flagging the scale, the emotional hit, and Damon’s turn as Odysseus as standouts.

The cast is loaded: alongside Damon, Holland, Hathaway, Zendaya, and Pattinson, you’ve got Charlize Theron, Lupita Nyong'o, Jon Bernthal, John Leguizamo, Mia Goth, Elliot Page, Himesh Patel, and more. The production roamed all over the map too, filming in Greece, Italy, Iceland, Morocco, and Scotland to make ancient myth feel like a place you can actually walk around in.

• Release: July 17, 2026, in theaters worldwide (final trailer dropped July 1)
• Runtime: 172 minutes
• Budget: Reported $250 million
• Format: Shot entirely with IMAX film cameras
• Story scope: Odysseus’s brutal journey home runs in parallel with Penelope and Telemachus defending Ithaca
• Key players: Matt Damon (Odysseus), Anne Hathaway (Penelope), Tom Holland (Telemachus), Zendaya (Athena), Robert Pattinson (Antinous), plus Charlize Theron, Lupita Nyong'o, Jon Bernthal, John Leguizamo, Mia Goth, Elliot Page, Himesh Patel
• Where they shot: Greece, Italy, Iceland, Morocco, Scotland

So yes, expect sea monsters and gods, but based on the premiere feedback (and the Holland household’s collective meltdown), Nolan’s packed something even sharper into those 172 minutes: feelings. And, apparently, a surprise for Tom’s mom.