Leave it to Tom Holland to derail a very serious mythology question with a very not-serious marriage joke. During WIRED's 'The Odyssey ' interview, where the cast fielded the outlet's 50 Most Searched Questions about the movie and Homer's original, someone asked if Zendaya 's Athena is romantically into Matt Damon 's Odysseus. Before anyone could put on their scholar hat, Holland jumped in with a one-liner about his real-life relationship with Zendaya, and the whole panel cracked up — Damon, Anne Hathaway, and Robert Pattinson included — before the conversation wandered back to the Greeks.
The setup: a fan question, a marriage punchline
The question was simple: is Athena in love with Odysseus? Holland could not resist. He basically said no — because the goddess in question is played by his wife. Given that Holland and Zendaya recently tied the knot, the bit landed instantly. It was a rare press-tour moment that felt both obvious and perfectly timed, the kind of wink that reminds you there are real people underneath all the epic armor.
What they would not say about Athena (on purpose)
Beyond the joke, the cast kept tight-lipped on the big stuff. Athena is clearly a centerpiece in Christopher Nolan 's take, and the specifics of why she guides Odysseus — and what that dynamic actually is — are being held back for theaters. When WIRED pushed on why the goddess chooses the hero, Damon tiptoed around spoilers and framed the dynamic as more complicated than it sounds.
'This is difficult in the context of our movie without giving things away. Because does Athena choose Odysseus or does Odysseus choose Athena?... Spoiler alert. That’s all we can say.'
Translation: expect the movie to play with the power balance between mortal and deity instead of giving a tidy, single-answer motivation.
One more tease: Telemachus gets a lesson
The banter kept rolling when someone asked what Zendaya's Athena teaches Holland's Telemachus. Damon lobbed a deadpan 'true love' gag, and Holland just nodded along. It was another quick beat that showed the cast knows exactly how much to give away — and how much to keep back for opening night.
Who is who in this clip
- Matt Damon as Odysseus
- Zendaya as Athena
- Tom Holland as Telemachus
- Anne Hathaway and Robert Pattinson were on hand during the WIRED segment and clearly enjoying the chaos