Tom Holland revealed that Christopher Nolan asked him whether he would be “offended” if Zendaya was cast as Athena in The Odyssey, before requesting the actor to convey the offer to his wife.
The forthcoming film follows Odysseus’s decade-long journey home to Ithaca after the Trojan War as he fights monsters, gods and other mythical adversaries while his wife Penelope fends off suitors and his son Telemachus searches for his father.
Matt Damon stars as Odysseus, Anne Hathaway as Penelope and Holland as Telemachus. The cast also includes Robert Pattinson as the suitor Antinous, Charlize Theron as Calypso, Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy, as well as Jon Bernthal, Benny Safdie, John Leguizamo, Himesh Patel, Samantha Morton, Elliot Page, Mia Goth, and Bill Irwin.
The Spider-Man star said the conversation about Zendaya took place after Nolan had offered him the role of Telemachus. “He pitched the story, he expressed the ambition of what he was trying to achieve. I then took the script home that night and read it and was literally jumping up and down. And I said yes before I’d read it because why wouldn’t you?” Holland told Access Hollywood.
Holland recalled Nolan asking an unexpected question. “Do you mind if I ask you a question?” the actor said the director told him. “And please don’t be offended by my asking.”
Holland joked that he thought Nolan would ask if the actor would be willing to wear shoes with lifts to make him look taller.
Instead, Holland said Nolan asked him: “Would you be offended if I asked Zendaya to play Athena?”
“I was like, ‘Why would I be offended? Yeah, I just said, ‘Oh, I would be honoured. That’s amazing. I’m sure she would love to.’ And then I asked, ‘Do you want me to tell her?’ And he said, ‘Yeah.’ And then I went home and she asked me about the meeting and I just said to her, ‘You should read the script again.’”
Holland said the pair had already read the screenplay together the previous evening before his meeting with Nolan, although he joked during the interview that he was probably not “supposed to do that”.
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Instead of conveying Nolan’s offer directly, Holland asked Zendaya to revisit the script with a particular character in mind.
“I said, ‘Just trust me. You should read it again, read Athena, like, really closely,’” Holland said. “The little corners of her mouth went up. It was amazing.”
Zendaya separately confirmed the account during her own interview with Access Hollywood, describing how she had been eager to learn about Nolan’s latest project after Holland was first approached.
“He came home from another meeting with Chris,” she said. “He was like, ‘Read this again, but now read it with this character in mind.’”
She added: “I was incredibly grateful that I just even got to be a part of it, too. I didn’t see that coming.”
Zendaya also said she had been “peeking over his shoulder” while Holland was reading the screenplay because she was curious to discover what Nolan’s next film would be and what role Holland had been offered.
She said Holland’s initial call about joining the production had been an emotional moment for both of them. “We freaked out. It was very exciting. My heart was so full for him.”
The Odyssey will be released in theatres on 17 July 2026.
