A Christopher Nolan movie is always easy to distinguish. The reason is that his films often weave in complex narratives, jump between different time frames, and feature mathematically inspired images and concepts. But there is another recurring theme he loves to weave into his projects—and that is Greek mythology. Nolan’s upcoming film, which will star some of the brightest names in Hollywood, is based on Homer’s epic, titled, The Odyssey. This has inspired a popular film critic to find similar Greek mythology parallels in Nolan’s past works.

Three of Christopher Nolan’s popular hits eerily echo Greek mythology, and it might have slipped past many viewers.

Film critic Isaac Feldberg took to X to share his thoughts on Christopher Nolan's obsession with Greek mythology. He started by comparing Inception to the labyrinth of the mind. In Greek mythology, a labyrinth was a tricky maze built by Daedalus for King Minos of Crete, meant to hold the Minotaur, a fearsome monster. Even Ariadne, the character played by Elliot Page in the movie, is named after the Greek princess, who gave Theseus a ball of thread and a sword so he could navigate the labyrinth and defeat the Minotaur.

Nolan himself has mentioned this connection in a 2010 interview with Wired, saying, “I don’t know how many people pick up on that association when they’re watching the film.” The Oscar-winning Oppenheimer also takes a page from Greek mythology. J. Robert Oppenheimer often gets compared to Prometheus, the Greek god of fire. In fact, the 2023 movie even starts with a few lines summarizing the myth of Prometheus. Feldberg also brought up The Dark Knight trilogy, calling it modern mythopoetics. Many see the trilogy as a contemporary retelling of Greek mythology, focusing on the hero’s journey through the underworld. But that is not all.

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Nolan’s upcoming 2026 project, The Odyssey, is not his first time taking on a Homeric epic. He has done it before.

The movie in question is the Academy-nominated sci-fi epic, Interstellar. The 2014 film is often dubbed 'The Odyssey for the 21st Century'. In many ways, it serves as a modern twist on the classic hero’s quest to return home. Matthew McConaughey's character, Cooper’s struggle in making the long journey back from an alien world to his family, is a story that majorly mirrored that of Odysseus.

On top of that, both The Odyssey and Interstellar share the theme of divine assistance. Athena, the daughter of Zeus, aided Odysseus throughout his journey, while Amelia, played by Anne Hathaway, the daughter of Brand, stepped in to help Cooper. And now, Nolan is gearing up for another go at the epic, this time with a fresh genre and new twist, and the hype is clearly off the charts.

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