The Oscar-winning director went all the way back to ancient Greece for The Odyssey, his massive adaptation of Homer’s epic about Odysseus (Matt Damon), the king of Ithaca who embarks on a perilous journey home following the Trojan War. And he brought what feels like half of Hollywood along for the ride.
Nolan’s ancient Greek epic may not exactly be a queer odyssey, but its ridiculously stacked cast has accumulated quite the LGBTQ+ resume. From Brokeback Mountain and Euphoria to Behind the Candelabra and To Wong Foo, here are the queerest movies and TV shows starring the cast of The Odyssey, ranked!
10. Tom Holland — ‘The Crowded Room’
Tom Holland plays Telemachus, the son of Odysseus and Penelope, in The Odyssey. In the Apple TV+ psychological thriller The Crowded Room, Holland’s Danny Sullivan has multiple identities, including Ariana, who has a relationship with another man. A scene showing Holland portraying Ariana during one of their sexual encounters sparked predictable homophobic backlash online.
9. Bill Irwin — ‘Spoiler Alert’
In The Odyssey, Bill Irwin takes on the monstrous Cyclops Polyphemus. He traded mythology for a tearjerker in Spoiler Alert, playing Bob Cowan, the father of Ben Aldridge’s Kit, in the romantic drama about the real-life relationship between Michael Ausiello and Kit Cowan.
8. Robert Pattinson — ‘Little Ashes’
Robert Pattinson plays Antinous, one of Penelope’s suitors, in Nolan’s Greek epic. In the 2008 period drama Little Ashes, he transformed into surrealist artist Salvador Dalí for a story exploring Dalí’s intimate relationship with gay Spanish poet Federico García Lorca. Yes, Edward Cullen has a gay period drama buried in his filmography.
7. Jovan Adepo — ‘Watchmen’
Jovan Adepo is part of The Odyssey‘s sprawling ensemble, though his character isn’t currently identified in the available cast credits I found. In HBO’s Watchmen, Adepo played the younger Will Reeves, a.k.a. Hooded Justice, reimagined by the series as a Black bisexual superhero whose sexuality is woven into his previously untold history.
6. Zendaya — ‘Euphoria’
Zendaya goes from playing the goddess Athena in The Odyssey to a very different kind of complicated heroine on Euphoria. Rue Bennett’s messy love for Jules Vaughn is at the heart of the HBO drama, and Zendaya’s two-time Emmy-winning performance made Rue one of television’s most recognizable queer characters.
5. Charlize Theron — ‘Monster’
As Calypso in The Odyssey, Charlize Theron plays the nymph who detains Odysseus on his journey home. Theron won an Oscar for her transformation into serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster, which also chronicles Wuornos’s romantic relationship with Selby, played by Christina Ricci. Her queer resume doesn’t end there: Theron later played bisexual spy Lorraine Broughton in Atomic Blonde.
4. Matt Damon — ‘Behind the Candelabra’
Before taking the lead as Odysseus himself, Matt Damon slipped into some very tiny Speedos to play Scott Thorson, the longtime lover of Liberace, in Behind the Candelabra. Damon starred opposite Michael Douglas in Steven Soderbergh’s deliciously gay 2013 biopic about the legendary entertainer. There’s another queer classic in his filmography, too: The Talented Mr. Ripley, in which his dangerously obsessive Tom Ripley becomes infatuated with Jude Law’s Dickie Greenleaf.
3. Elliot Page — ‘The Umbrella Academy’
Elliot Page joins Odysseus’s adventure as Sinon, a figure associated with the Greeks’ Trojan Horse scheme. Page starred as Viktor Hargreeves across all four seasons of Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy, with the series incorporating Viktor’s transition into its third season. Viktor also had a memorable romance with Sissy Cooper in season 2. Page returned to the big screen as a trans man reconnecting with his family and a former love in the queer drama Close to You, while his other LGBTQ+ credits include My Days of Mercy and Freeheld.
2. Anne Hathaway — ‘Brokeback Mountain’
Anne Hathaway plays Penelope, Odysseus’s wife and the woman awaiting his return to Ithaca. She also played Lureen Newsome Twist, wife of Jake Gyllenhaal’s Jack Twist, in Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain. The devastating romance between Jack and Ennis Del Mar remains one of the most significant queer films of the 21st century—and more than 20 years later, we’re still not over it.
1. John Leguizamo — ‘To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar’
John Leguizamo appears in The Odyssey as Eumaeus, Odysseus’s faithful servant. Three decades earlier, he joined Patrick Swayze and Wesley Snipes in heels for the beloved road trip comedy To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar. As fabulous aspiring drag queen Chi-Chi Rodriguez, Leguizamo helped turn an unlikely studio comedy starring three macho Hollywood leading men into an enduring queer cult classic.
This article originally appeared on Out: ‘The Odyssey’ cast’s queerest movies and TV shows, ranked
