The Odyssey Has Us Thinking About Christopher Nolan’s Video Game Adaptation Ideas

A new Christopher Nolan movie is always cause for celebration, as the celebrated filmmaker has produced some of the most talked-about flicks of all time. The Odyssey is looking to be another blockbuster, and also a reminder that the world could do with a video game or two based on his movies. That's not to say that Nolan hasn't toyed around with the idea of a video game adaptation of his work, but he's well aware of just how tough the industry is.

"Making films is complicated and takes a long time. Making video games is even more complicated and takes even longer," Nolan said way back in a 2020 interview with The Game Awards host Geoff Keighley. "The way the video game industry works--it's really tough. You don't want to just be doing a licensed game; tying it into something and using the brand established by the film, the same way you don't want to build a video game adaptation to a film. You don't want it to just draft off the brand. You want it to be something great in its own right. It's not something you'd ever take on lightly, but it's definitely something I'm interested in."

That's not to say that Nolan hasn't dabbled with a video game adaptation before. Nolan wasn't involved in the development of EA's Batman Begins tie-in game--but his wife, Emma Thomas, and Oscar-winning cinematographer Wally Pfister were active consultants on the game's visuals and gameplay. Nolan had considered making a video game based on Inception, and not long after, the project was officially greenlit. "I always imagined Inception to be a world where a lot of other stories could take place," Nolan said in 2010. "At the moment, the only direction we're channeling that is by developing a video game set in the world."

Sadly, a developer was never officially announced for the project, and it quietly fizzled out. Since then, the director has made several more award-winning and mind-bending movies like Dunkirk, Tenet, and Oppenheimer, and it's not hard to imagine how any one of those movies could work as a video game--we're sure there's a cozy angle to be taken with a video game that follows Robert Oppenheimer as he grapples with his role in creating the ultimate weapon.

As for The Odyssey, it's an adaptation of Homer's ancient Greek epic poem of the same name, and it has a stacked cast of actors, including Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong'o, Zendaya, and Charlize Theron. It is getting a video game adaptation, albeit as an official tie-in that'll be available for free through Roblox.

Alternatively, games like Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Immortals: Fenyx Rising, and both of Supergiant's Hades adventures should scratch that itch for action during an age of myths and legends.