Isn’t it funny how, when Christopher Nolan cast Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy in The Odyssey, the internet was suddenly full of classical Greek mythology experts? And the richest man in the world among them. For a film based on an epic full of sirens and sorceresses, somehow an actress of Kenyan descent being the most beautiful woman in the world seems impossible. Those who oppose Nyong’o as Helen accuse Nolan of betraying history for progressive agendas. The backlash, though ugly, speaks volumes about Western ideals.
The thing about beauty is that we’re not supposed to care about it. We’re told that beauty is skin-deep; that it’s in the eye of the beholder; that it’s what’s inside that counts. But nobody can deny that beauty is a huge part of myths, and myths about beauty abound even today. Beauty is a critical aspect of any culture — what they prize most in terms of femininity, behaviour, physical desirability. As the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen of Troy is the ultimate litmus test for what society values.
In modern Western culture, of which The Odyssey — the ancient epic — is a foundational text, beauty often means what White society considers desirable. No wonder a Black Helen has caused so much distress among the detractors of The Odyssey‘s 2026 film counterpart. Lupita’s obsidian skin is antithetical to their perceptions of physical perfection. For them, white-as-beautiful is not only desirable, it’s inherently natural.
The most recent incarnation of Helen in film was in Troy (2004). Diane Kruger was the face that launched a thousand ships. Kruger, who was born in West Germany, certainly didn’t have the Mediterranean features you’d expect in a Greek woman if historical accuracy was important. But her casting makes sense when you remember that Wolfgang Petersen, who directed Troy, is also German. Clearly, to Petersen, Kruger represented ultimate female beauty. Remember another German who had a big hard-on for Aryan perfection back in the 1940s? Exactly.
Anyway, Hollywood has a long history of miscasting White actors in historically ethnic roles. Anyone remember the hysterical handwringing when Elizabeth Taylor was cast as Cleopatra in 1963? The silence there speaks volumes about how the Hollywood machine decides who belongs and whose bodies are viewed as legitimate. If whiteness is the default setting in Western media and society, it’s unsurprising that the only time criticism arises is when a person of colour is given a supposedly ‘White’ role.
Interestingly, Nyong’o isn’t the first woman of colour to embody Helen. Probably the first to break the mould was, naturally, the original Star Trek, which cast a French-Vietnamese actress named France Nuyen as Elaan of Troyius. And in typical 1960s-style sci-fi, she wore a sparkly silver bikini. And Nyong’o isn’t actually the first Black actress to be Helen. That honour goes to Galyn Görg, who played Helen in Xena: Warrior Princess.
For all that, in all likelihood, Helen of Troy, had she existed and as the Greeks understood her, was probably fair-skinned (not in the Caucasian way we think of today, but Mediterranean). Homer did describe Helen as “white-armed.” But this was shorthand at the time for women of high social status, whose skin was very light because they had the luxury of not working under the sun. True beauty, then, as Homer understood it, was more than skin-deep.
Helen of Troy was the most beautiful woman in the world because she was a combination of many qualities the Greeks prized. Beyond physical beauty, she was legendary for her bearing and deportment and for her seductive voice. She had the power to make her husband Menelaus — full of rage and bent on punishing her for abandoning him for Paris — drop his sword and spare her life just by looking at him.
Those who oppose Nyong’o’s casting in Nolan’s The Odyssey should remember that Helen’s race is a non-issue, because there never was a real, historical person, the daughter of Zeus hatched from an egg. Myths are not historical documents. Anyway, just a century ago, Americans didn’t even consider Greeks white. So what’s the big deal about a Black Helen?
What the backlash against Nyong’o reveals is how strongly Euro-centric ideals continue to dominate. I don’t believe Nolan’s decision was politically driven. I think he simply cast one of the best actresses of her generation — and the fact that this reads as a provocation, rather than as obvious, is the whole problem. Helen of Troy is still capable of triggering wars today — cultural wars, that is. Not because of who was cast, but because of who can’t stand to see her cast that way.
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