Christopher Nolan Calls Tom Holland an “Incredible Talent” After ‘The Odyssey’ and Hints He Wants More

Christopher Nolan has never been shy about surrounding himself with exceptional performers, but his latest comments about Tom Holland suggest the filmmaker may have found a new long-term collaborator. With ‘The Odyssey’ arriving in theaters on July 17, 2026, the promotional machine is fully in motion, and the conversations emerging from it are proving to be just as compelling as the film itself.

‘The Odyssey’ is an upcoming epic fantasy action film written and directed by Nolan, adapting Homer’s ancient Greek poem with Matt Damon leading the cast as Odysseus. Holland stars as Telemachus, Odysseus’s son and the prince of Ithaca, who is determined to find his father, joining an ensemble that also includes Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, and Lupita Nyong’o, among dozens of others. The film will make history as the first narrative feature to be shot entirely with IMAX cameras.

Nolan has been making the press rounds ahead of the release, and it was during a Monday night appearance on ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ that he offered his most candid remarks yet about the ‘Spider-Man’ star.

Nolan admitted he was probably among the last filmmakers in Hollywood to fully realize Holland’s skills as an actor, but now that they’ve filmed together, he said he would be more than happy to get Holland on another project. “He’s amazing,” Nolan told Colbert. “I’ve not worked with him before, but I would love to work with him again. I mean, he’s just an incredible talent. He’s so, so great.”

The admiration appears to run both ways. Holland has previously described ‘The Odyssey’ as “the job of a lifetime,” saying he came to set every day with a real sense of purpose and a point to prove, and that he is deeply grateful to Nolan for the opportunity. In a separate interview with GQ, Holland went even further, calling the film “an absolute masterpiece” and describing it as “unlike anything” he has ever seen.

The Colbert interview also touched on the broader mythology surrounding the project. When Colbert pointed out that Holland, Hathaway, and co-star Robert Pattinson have all appeared in major superhero franchises, Nolan drew a direct line between Homer’s epics and modern comic book culture, suggesting that much of what drives Marvel and DC traces back to those ancient stories. “The thing about Homer, it is the Marvel of its day,” Nolan said during the interview with Variety. “It’s very directly this desire for us to feel or believe gods could walk amongst us.”

Nolan and Thomas’s last collaboration, ‘Oppenheimer,’ grossed nearly 959 million dollars at the global box office and earned 13 Academy Award nominations, taking home seven Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director. With that kind of legacy behind him and a glowing mutual endorsement between director and star already dominating entertainment headlines, ‘The Odyssey’ is shaping up to be one of the most anticipated blockbusters of the 2026 summer season.

A Nolan and Holland collaboration that extends beyond ‘The Odyssey’ is a tantalizing prospect for fans of both filmmakers and performers. Let us know in the comments whether you’d love to see the two team up again on a future project.