Christopher Nolan has left fans stunned with the latest teaser for his forthcoming historical epic, The Odyssey, which revealed rapper Travis Scott in what appears to be his feature film acting debut.
During Fox’s Sunday night football broadcast of the AFC Championship between the New England Patriots and the Denver Broncos, a commercial break featured a minute-long clip from the British Oppenheimer director’s adaptation of Homer’s Greek poem.
The trailer shows Jon Bernthal’s Menelaus and Tom Holland’s Telemachus holding a meeting in a mess hall, when Scott’s bard-like character stands up and taps a staff to the ground to warn them about an imminent war.
“A war, a man, a trick to break the walls of Troy and burn it straight into the ground,” he announces.
Following news of the Grammy-winning rapper’s surprise casting, several fans expressed similar shock.
“Wait Travis Scott and Christopher Nolan that was not on my bingo card,” one wrote on X, with a second echoing: “This is a tweet I never expected to read.”
“Had no idea he was in it?!!!!” a third commented.
“Why is all the rappers trying to be actors now?” another questioned. Rapper A$AP Rocky recently appeared in the critically acclaimed comedy drama If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, alongside newly Oscar-nominated actor Rose Byrne.
Some were excited about Scott’s inclusion. “Christopher Nolan is the best director to let Travis Scott show his acting talent,” one argued while another agreed, “This may work.”
A third insisted: “Trust Nolan.”
The Odyssey, out in theaters July 17, stars Matt Damon as the Greek hero Odysseus, king of Ithaca, as he journeys home after the Trojan War. It also features an all-star cast of Holland, Bernthal, Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Anne Hathaway, Mia Goth and Benny Safdie.
While this marks Scott’s first major film role — and with Oscar-winning director Nolan, no less — fans might remember that he previously collaborated with the Interstellar filmmaker on the song “The Plan” included on the soundtrack of his 2020 action-sci-fi Tenet.
Scott, 34, also made a cameo in the 2019 thriller Gully as a movie store owner and had a role in the 2023 limited-release experimental action-crime Aggro Dr1ft.
The “Sicko Mode” rapper rose to fame between 2012 and 2015, following his appearance on Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music compilation album Cruel Summer, the release of his mixtapes Owl Pharaoh (2013) and Days Before Rodeo (2014), and his hit debut album Rodeo in 2015. He’s best known for his third studio album, Astroworld (2018), which debuted atop the U.S. Billboard 200 charts and was certified platinum six times.
