Elliot Page’s ‘Odyssey’ Role Sparks a New Achilles Mystery Ahead of Release

Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey‘ is just days away from hitting theaters, and one casting question refuses to die down. Fans have spent months trying to figure out exactly who Elliot Page is playing in the sprawling adaptation of Homer’s epic, and the leading theory for a long stretch was that Page had taken on the ghost of Achilles.

That theory has cooled considerably in recent weeks. A newly surfaced Hungarian dubbing cast list reportedly lists Page’s character as someone named Sinon, a name that does not even appear in Homer’s original poem, which has only added more confusion rather than clearing anything up.

Where Does Achilles Fit Into Nolan’s Odyssey

The Achilles theory took off after a trailer showed a brief, shadowy glimpse of Page’s character asking Odysseus, played by Matt Damon, who is looking after his wife and son. That line does not actually appear anywhere in Homer’s text, but the somber, regretful tone of the moment felt consistent with how Achilles is written in the underworld sequence of the epic.

In the original poem, the encounter between Odysseus and the ghost of Achilles is one of the most devastating scenes in the whole story, since the once-celebrated warrior is forced to confront the fact that his glory meant nothing once he was dead.

It is the kind of gut punch sequence that seems tailor made for Nolan’s approach to grand, emotionally weighted set pieces, which is exactly why fans latched onto the idea so quickly.

Part of the appeal of the theory was also generational. Brad Pitt’s take on Achilles in ‘Troy’ has loomed over any future big screen version of the character for two decades, and casting Page in the role would have given Nolan’s film a chance to break away from that comparison entirely. That angle alone kept the rumor alive on social media long after it should have faded.

The Elpenor Theory Takes Over

As the Achilles chatter lost steam, a second theory gained traction, this one suggesting Page is actually playing Elpenor, a young member of Odysseus’s crew who dies while the group is staying with the witch Circe. Elpenor is one of the spirits Odysseus later meets in the underworld, so the murky, ghost lit visuals in the trailer would fit that role just as easily as they fit Achilles.

Some fans have pointed to a photo posted by fellow ‘Odyssey’ cast member Ryan de Quintal showing what appears to be the film’s crew of sailors gathered around a dinner table, with Page seated among them.

A cast photo obviously does not confirm anything on its own, and Universal has not addressed the image either way, but it has been enough to keep the Elpenor theory circulating.

The thematic argument for Elpenor also tracks with Nolan’s storytelling instincts. The idea of a young, neglected crew member left unburied and haunted by guilt fits the kind of intimate, character driven beat Nolan tends to build his bigger sequences around. That reading has made the Elpenor camp feel like the more grounded guess of the two.

Neither Theory Has Been Confirmed by Nolan or Universal

Despite months of speculation, neither Christopher Nolan, Elliot Page, nor Universal Pictures has confirmed whether Page is playing Elpenor, Achilles, or an entirely different character. A more complete cast list obtained by IGN Hungary through Universal’s international distributor has effectively put the Achilles rumor to rest, though it has not clarified exactly who Page is portraying instead.

What makes the list even more interesting is who is missing from it entirely. Athena appears to be the only Greek god included, despite Poseidon, Zeus, Hermes, and Helios all playing roles in the original story, and characters like Cassandra, Aeolus, Nausicaa, and Achilles himself are also absent from the roster.

That does not necessarily mean those figures are cut from the film, only that they are not part of the dubbing cast list that leaked.

Page’s involvement in ‘The Odyssey’ marks his second collaboration with Nolan after 2010’s ‘Inception’, and it is his first film with the director since publicly coming out as trans in 2020. That context has fueled a separate wave of backlash from right wing commentators, including Elon Musk, who criticized the idea of Nolan casting a transgender actor as a classical Greek hero before the role was ever confirmed.

Nolan Addresses the Casting Backlash

The controversy around Page’s casting grew loud enough that Nolan himself was asked to weigh in. Nolan has since called the right wing backlash to ‘The Odyssey’ irrelevant, pushing back on the narrative that had formed around a role that was never officially confirmed in the first place.

The film itself is a massive undertaking for Nolan, adapting Homer’s epic with Matt Damon as Odysseus and Anne Hathaway as his wife Penelope, alongside an ensemble that includes Tom Holland as Telemachus, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Samantha Morton, Zendaya, and Charlize Theron. Nolan reportedly began writing the project in March 2024 and secured it with Universal Pictures by that October, with a net budget of around 250 million dollars making it the most expensive film of his career.

Nolan has spoken about how the story stuck with him since childhood, recalling watching a school play of the Odyssey as a young kid and saying the epic feels foundational to nearly every film he has made since. That kind of personal connection to the material is part of why fans have been so invested in getting every casting detail right, down to a single mysterious role.

With the film opening this weekend, the truth about Page’s character will finally be out in the open for everyone to see rather than piece together from trailers and leaked dubbing sheets. Now that the Achilles theory has effectively been ruled out, who do you think Elliot Page is actually playing when ‘The Odyssey’ hits theaters.