{"id":140845,"date":"2026-05-13T04:03:02","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T04:03:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/lupita-nyongo-to-play-two-roles-in-film-the-odyssey\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T04:03:02","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T04:03:02","slug":"lupita-nyongo-to-play-two-roles-in-film-the-odyssey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/lupita-nyongo-to-play-two-roles-in-film-the-odyssey\/","title":{"rendered":"Lupita Nyong\u2019o to play two roles in film \u2018The Odyssey\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Award-winning director Christopher Nolan has confirmed in a new interview with Time magazine that Lupita Nyong\u2019o will, in fact, play Helen of Troy in his film adaptation of Homer\u2019s poem \u2018The Odyssey\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the surprise does not end there; the Kenyan-born actress will also play the role of Clytemnestra, the half-sister of Helen of Troy and the wife of the Achaean king Agamemnon.<\/span><\/p>\n

The news comes after months of online speculation and backlash for the film\u2019s casting choices. <\/span>To understand the criticism surrounding Nolan\u2019s casting decision, it is best to explain the three most controversial roles.<\/span><\/p>\n

Helen of Troy<\/p>\n

Nyong\u2019o\u2019s first role in the film as the character of Helen of Troy is what prompted the ongoing criticism from fans of the original work.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While the role of Helen of Troy is very minor in the events of \u2018The Odyssey\u2019, Helen is written and regarded by fans as the \u201c<\/span>most beautiful woman in the world\u201d in \u2018The Iliad\u2019. In the poem, she is so highly revered for her beauty that her \u201cabduction\u201d at the hands of the Trojan prince Paris spurs the Spartan king Menelaus to ignite the popular conflict known as the Trojan War.<\/span><\/p>\n

Clytemnestra<\/p>\n

In her second role, Nyong\u2019o will play Helen\u2019s half-sister Clytemnestra. <\/span>Clytemnestra is notably not depicted as Helen\u2019s twin in either \u2018The Odyssey\u2019 or \u2018The Iliad\u2019, but rather a half-sister of Helen who shares a mother, Leda, hence the second issue according to critics.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Bard<\/strong><\/p>\n

Travis Scott<\/p>\n

Aside from Lupita\u2019s casting, Nolan also cast rapper Travis Scott in the role of the bard. Explaining his reasoning behind the casting, Nolan said he wanted to amplify the fact that the story was passed through oral poetry.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI cast him because I wanted to nod towards the idea that this story has been handed down as oral poetry, which is analogous to rap,\u201d Nolan said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The three roles are not prominently displayed on the first trailer for the film released last week.<\/p>\n\n

\u2018The Odyssey\u2019 stars Matt Damon in the role of as Odysseus alongside stars such as Tom Holland as Telemachus, Charlize Theron as the nymph Calypso, Robert Pattinson as Antinous and Anne Hathaway as Odysseus\u2019s wife Queen Penelope.<\/span><\/p>\n

The film is set to premiere worldwide on July 17.<\/span><\/p>\n

The post Lupita Nyong\u2019o to play two roles in film \u2018The Odyssey\u2019<\/a> appeared first on KBC Digital<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Award-winning director Christopher Nolan has confirmed in a new interview with Time magazine that Lupita Nyong\u2019o will, in fact, play Helen of Troy in his film adaptation of Homer\u2019s poem \u2018The Odyssey\u2019. However, the surprise does not end there; the Kenyan-born actress will also play the role of Clytemnestra, the half-sister of Helen of Troy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-140845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140845\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}