‘The Odyssey’ Was Never Going to Bomb, Despite Grifter Angst

Tom Holland, Christopher Nolan, and Matt Damon at the premiere of The Odyssey in Mumbai, India on July 11, 2026. (Photo by Prodip Guha/Getty Images)A COUPLE OF MONTHS BACK, I highlighted the strange reaction to Christopher Nolan’s then-upcoming film, The Odyssey, in certain portions of the conservative media ecosystem. Particularly among the grifter set on Twitter, where Elon Musk had whipped people into a fury over the casting of Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy (because Helen of Troy couldn’t possibly be black and to suggest otherwise is a betrayal of Western civilization) and Elliot Page as a Greek soldier (because a trans actor couldn’t possibly play a Greek soldier).I was fascinated by this story because it combined so many of my different interests: social media as a vector for disinf