Lupita Nyong’o has always seemed effortlessly elegant to me; she can pull off any color, hairstyle, or makeup. In Christopher Nolan’s much-anticipated adaptation of The Odyssey, she plays Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra. It’s a dual role that has another Oscar nomination written all over it. Fans are celebrating the film’s release week by sharing a video of Nyong’o that has everyone saying, “That’s our Helen!”
The video lasts just four seconds, but I didn’t even realize it was looping because I was so focused on Lupita’s beauty. In the clip below, the Academy Award-winning actress dances in a stunning orange-and-yellow dress that covers one side of her body and leaves the other side more exposed. (I need her gym routine, seriously)
It already has 19,000 likes and over 1,600 reposts, with fans hoping Lupita’s stylist will bring similarly bold looks to red-carpet and press appearances for the fantasy-action blockbuster, which is in theaters now.
Who are Lupita Nyong’o’s characters in The Odyssey?
Christopher Nolan wrote and directed this movie, which will be one of the biggest releases of 2026. It adapts ancient Greek poet Homer’s Odyssey, one of the oldest surviving works of literature. Nyong’o will play Helen of Troy, Menelaus’s (Jon Bernthal, The Walking Dead) wife. She’s the most beautiful woman in the world and her abduction starts the Trojan War. Lupita will also play Helen’s sister Clytemnestra, Agamemnon’s wife.
Some questioned Nyong’o’s ability to portray “the most beautiful woman in the world.” The viral video makes it clear why she was cast.
A star-studded cast
Matt Damon stars as Odysseus, leading a cast that includes Lupita, Tom Holland as Telemachus (Odysseus’s son), Anne Hathaway as Penelope (Odysseus’s wife), Robert Pattinson as Antinous, Samantha Morton as Circe, Zendaya as Athena, and Charlize Theron as Calypso.
Header image credit: X/Instagram/@lupitanyongo
