July 18, 2026, 8:30 a.m. ET
Spoiler alert! We’re discussing important details about the ending of “The Odyssey” (in theaters now). Stop reading if you haven’t seen it yet and don’t want to know what happens.
By and large, Christopher Nolan plays by the book.
The director’s ambitious new take on “The Odyssey” honors everything you remember about Homer’s mythic poem from eighth-grade English class. Like the book, the movie follows Greek king Odysseus (Matt Damon), who spends 10 years at war and another decade lost at sea, encountering cyclops, sirens and giants along the way.
But Nolan also throws a meditative new wrinkle into the story, as Odysseus comes to grips with his role in the Trojan War, leading the charge as his men raped, murdered and pillaged in his name. The character’s remorse and disgrace become a pivotal part of the movie’s third act, which ends almost entirely differently than Homer’s nearly 3,000-year-old tome.
What is ‘The Odyssey’ movie ending?
After losing all his men on his treacherous journey home, Odysseus returns to Ithaca disguised as a haggard beggar, with the intent of reclaiming his throne from the dozens of suitors who have been harassing his wife, Penelope (Anne Hathaway), for years. His now-grown son, Telemachus (Tom Holland), slowly recognizes his father, although Penelope remains in the dark about his true identity.
Through a chilling flashback of the sacking of Troy, Odysseus explains that it’s impossible to ever truly feel at home again after the horrors that he’s incited and witnessed. In one symbolic moment, we see a crestfallen Athena (Zendaya) – the goddess of wisdom and warfare – decapitated by his army. Athena is a confidante of sorts to Odysseus throughout the film, and he worries that he’s defiled the gods with his savage actions.
Fed up with the suitors who have desecrated her palace, Penelope then poses an impossible task: If one of them can string Odysseus’ old bow and shoot an arrow though 12 axes, she will take that man’s hand in marriage. One by one, suitors including the devious Antinous (Robert Pattinson) fail at the challenge, until Odysseus volunteers and succeeds with ease.
Odysseus reveals who is really is, and with the help of Telemachus, kills all the suitors in a breakneck fight to the death. But the showdown ends with the battered king gravely wounded, telling Penelope that he would like to travel west as a way of honoring his fallen soldiers.
“The Odyssey” culminates in Telemachus taking the throne as his father and mother sail off into the open ocean: gazing at the horizon and talking of brighter days ahead. The final moments of the movie jump around in time, making it unclear whether Odysseus really did go into self-imposed exile, or if he actually died right on the floor of the throne room before his dream could be realized.
How does ‘The Odyssey’ book end?
Speaking to USA TODAY before the film’s release, Nolan said that the movie is imbued with a mix of hope and cynicism about the state of the world, showing that human history is in many ways cyclical. (To quote Nolan’s own “The Dark Knight”: “The night is darkest just before the dawn.”)
Homer’s book, meanwhile, is much tidier and outwardly optimistic. The gods are front and center in the finale: As Odysseus picks off Penelope’s suitors in the throne room, Athena is up on the ceiling redirecting his opponents’ spears so none of them pierce Odysseus. After he casts out the male and female servants who betrayed him, Athena pours “attractiveness” onto Odysseus to make him taller and stronger ‒ like the strapping warrior he was when he left Ithaca 20 years earlier.
Penelope initially struggles to accept that this youthful man is really Odysseus. She explains that she’s dealt with “so many dishonest, clever men” over the last 20 years, and she can’t tell whether he’s another suitor just trying to trick her. But after a night of reminiscing and lovemaking, her skepticism melts away and the couple reforges their bond.
War soon threatens to spill out once again, as the fallen suitors’ families come together seeking vengeance. Concerned, Athena consults the all-powerful Zeus about what Odysseus should do.
“He has already punished all the suitors, so let them swear an oath that he will be the king forever,” Zeus tells Athena. “And let us make sure the murder of their brothers and their sons will be forgotten. Let them all be friends, just as before, and let them live in peace and in prosperity.”
Athena commands that Odysseus and his men drop their weapons, or they risk the wrath of Zeus. And so, Homer’s book concludes with these simple (yet anticlimactic) final words:
“He was glad to obey her. Then Athena made the warring sides swear solemn oaths of peace for future times – still in her guise as mentor.”
