The Odyssey is a long movie, but there were a lot of things from the poem that never made it into Christopher Nolan’s masterpiece. Homer’s Odyssey is an epic poem that follows his previous tale, the Iliad. The Odyssey is split into 24 books, following Odysseus’ journey back home to his wife and son. While the movie’s runtime was long, the full story would have filled an entire season of a Netflix series.
There is a lot that Nolan left out of The Odyssey, and one of the most disappointing losses came with the confrontation with the Cyclops, Polyphemus. In the poem, Odysseus has a much more intense battle with the Cyclops, including torturing the beast after claiming his own name is “Nobody,” so when the Cyclops cries for help, he says, “Nobody” is torturing him. That is a fun moment Nolan omitted from his movie.
However, there is an even bigger omission Nolan made, and it occurs when Odysseus and his crew end up on the island where Circe lives. It was here that Nolan delivers his most horrific scenes in the film, but it could have been a lot more disturbing if he had followed the poem about what happens between Odysseus and Circe.
The Odyssey Left Out Odysseus Spending A Year As Circe’s Lover
In the movie, Odysseus and his crew make it to the island where Circe lives, and his crew has already lost trust in him. They demand to go find food alone, without him, because they believe he has sacrificed too many of them on the journey so far. However, going off without Odysseus is the worst possible decision because they find Circe and end up cursed.
The movie has Circe, a witch, turn them all into pigs. Looking around the island, there are animals everywhere, and it turns out that they are all former men, and Circe turns all men who come to her into animals because of her lack of trust in them, not to hurt her. When Odysseus shows up looking for his men, he realizes what happened and threatens Circe’s sister, who was transformed into a raven.
This convinces her to turn the pigs back into men, and Odysseus leaves in peace. In the poem, that isn’t what happens. In the movie, she is an isolated, dangerous hermit. In Homer’s Odyssey, she is a seductive goddess who convinces Odysseus to stay with her for a year. She still turns the men into pigs, but Odysseus is able to resist the magic thanks to Hermes’ herb moly. When he resists it, he agrees to stay for a year.
During this time, he becomes her lover. They have a child named Telegonus who later accidentally kills his father, fulfilling an old prophecy. However, this wasn’t in The Odyssey, but in the wider Epic Cycle, including the lost epic, Telegonia.
Other Changes The Odyssey Made To The Circe Sequence
There are other changes made to the Circe storyline from The Odyssey as well. One example is that the youngest member of Odysseus’ crew dies at Circe’s home. Elpenor is someone who follows Odysseus loyally, but he ends up getting drunk at Circe’s home, falling asleep on her roof, and then falling off a ladder the next morning and dying. Odysseus doesn’t even know he is dead until they have left, and his ghost later approaches Odysseus in the Underworld.
The main changes, though, were added by Nolan, rather than taken away. Rather than using a wand and turning everyone into pigs, Nolan chooses to use a disturbing body-horror sequence where she molds and stretches the men’s flesh into the shape of the pigs. It is disturbing and disgusting, and it makes Circe in the movie much more horrifying than she ever was in the poem.
However, it also transforms Circe from a malicious temptress who does this to get what she wants into a defensive survivor protecting herself from the evils of men. It makes her less evil and more cautious than Homer’s version of the witch.
Why Did Nolan Leave Out The Odysseus & Circe Storyline?
Odysseus’ year-long love affair with Circe wasn’t the only big thing that Nolan chose to eliminate from his movie. He also chose not to focus too much on Odysseus’ affair with Calypso, which lasts even longer than that with Circe. While it hints that Odysseus and Calypso are lovers in the movie, it is never shown or explicitly said. This makes his journey in the movie mean more.
If The Odyssey had shown Odysseus having an affair for a year and having a child with Circe, it would have taken a lot away from his true desire to get back home to his wife and son. Even though he had no memories of the island with Calypso, having a long-term affair with her would also have done damage to the idea of Odysseus and Penelope being meant to be together.
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is a grand epic fantasy adventure tale, and while he has to confront monsters, gods, and witches along the way, it is also a romantic tale. This is the story of Odysseus finding his way back home to a wife who has never stopped waiting for him. If Nolan had shown his adulterous affairs on the way back home, it would have lessened that reunion.
- Release Date
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July 15, 2026
- Runtime
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173 minutes
