Elliot Page’s ‘Odyssey’ Scene Is Drawing Achilles Comparisons, Even Without Achilles in the Movie

Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey‘ has been dissected scene by scene since its release, with fans and critics picking apart how faithfully the director translated Homer’s ancient text to the screen.

Much of that scrutiny has centered on Elliot Page’s character Sinon, whose casting ended months of speculation that the actor would play the legendary warrior Achilles. Now that audiences have actually seen the film, a new debate has emerged over just how far Nolan pushed that connection anyway.

The film’s take on the underworld sequence has become a particular flashpoint online. In Homer’s original poem, Odysseus travels to the land of the dead and speaks with the ghost of Achilles, who famously says he would rather be a lowborn living servant than rule as king over the dead. Nolan’s version swaps that famous exchange for a scene between Odysseus and the ghost of Sinon instead, a character who does not appear anywhere in Homer’s actual ‘Odyssey’.

That swap is exactly what has fans arguing that Page’s Sinon is functioning as a stand in for Achilles, even without carrying the name. One widely shared post responding to a clip from the scene argued that although Achilles himself never appears in the movie, Sinon is introduced as a ghost who effectively serves as Achilles by proxy. The reply above it, from another user, was blunter, simply asking Nolan what he was thinking.

The comparison is not entirely off base. Page’s Sinon tells Odysseus what it means to be dead and says the departed wait for newcomers to bring word of the living, a sentiment that echoes Achilles asking Odysseus for news from the world above in Homer’s version of the scene. Sinon emerges from the ground covered in mud, angry that Odysseus lied to secure his death, and says he would have died for Odysseus anyway even if he never took no comfort in dying alone.

Sinon’s presence in the underworld is itself a departure from the source material. The character has no basis in Homer’s writing at all and instead comes from Virgil’s ‘Aeneid’, where he is described as Odysseus’ cousin and the soldier who convinces the Trojans to drag the wooden horse inside their walls by claiming the Greeks had abandoned him. Nolan’s film also ties Sinon loosely to Elpenor, another crew member from Homer’s underworld sequence who dies from a fall and is unexpectedly the first spirit Odysseus encounters among the dead.

The Achilles theory itself never fully went away even after casting was clarified. It had already become a flashpoint in broader backlash toward the film’s casting choices, sitting alongside criticism of Lupita Nyong’o’s casting as Helen of Troy and commentary from figures including Elon Musk. Nolan has since publicly dismissed that backlash as irrelevant, and Page’s actual scene appears to be functioning exactly as the director intended, evoking Achilles’ spirit without literally resurrecting the character.

With ‘The Odyssey’ now playing in theaters, the Sinon scene looks likely to remain one of the most discussed departures from Homer in Nolan’s retelling. Whether audiences read it as a clever piece of myth blending or an unnecessary swap, it has clearly succeeded at getting people talking.

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