Helen of Troy Is Obviously Not an African, but Will Woke Hollywood Make Her One?

American Thinker ^ | 02/10/2026 | William Sullivan

[SeekAndFind]

If Helen of Troy were meant to be an African woman, Homer might have told his readers that fact in his telling of the greatest and most timeless epic poems in Western history – The Iliad and The Odyssey.

Her appearance being so contrary to everyone else in the Greek world certainly would have warranted a mention. This much, at least, should be obvious to everyone.

Imagining Helen’s appearance to be that of an African woman is just farcical, if one has any respect for the source material at all. It would make no sense for a high-budget production to take diligent care in correctly portraying the minutiae about Greek armor, weapons, landscapes, and triremes, for example, only to say “screw it, let’s make Helen of Troy an African lady.”

But no less than famed writer/director Christopher Nolan has been accused of such absurd pandering in these past weeks.  Rumors have been spreading widely and loudly that he has cast Kenyan-Mexican actress Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy in his new film treatment of Homer’s The Odyssey.

Now, at this point, the story has all the hallmarks of a hoax.  To my knowledge, no one in the production has verified that she would be playing this role.  While some actors have their parts credited already at IMDB, many others are cited as having roles in the film without citing which characters they will play.  Ms. Nyong’o is among these.

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It’s clear that she has been cast in the film, but it seems unlikely that she would be playing Helen.  After all, Helen is not a critical player in The Odyssey – [mild spoiler alert] after having run off with her now-dead Trojan lover and fueling a decade-long war in Troy in the events that led to The Iliad,

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TOPICS: History; Society; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: mythology; race; troy

[SeekAndFind]

it makes absolutely no sense to cast an African as the woman who was widely perceived across the known Greek world as the defining model of beauty. Nyong'o is beautiful, of course, but not in the style of classical Greece with its paragons of different characteristics. It would be a decision so absurd that it could only be made as a conscious effort to take a sledgehammer to the edifice of truth and Western culture, and to also rub a thumb in the eye of the American audiences who are tired of all this nonsense.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

“The face that? launched a thousand ships” is going to sink Christopher’s next movie.

[dfwgator]

Seems Helen of Troy has found a new face, again.

[dfwgator]

“The face that? launched a thousand ships”

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Is sinking fast, that happens you know.

(Can you tell I’m a Genesis fan?)

[microgood]

That decision will cost some serious box office. Snow White revisited.

[xp38]

For a movie to work one has to suspend disbelief and be drawn into the story. Woke absurdity prevents that and all you have left is mocking amusement but that wears thin pretty quickly and you question why one is wasting time on such crap.

[Organic Panic]

Why is everyone replaced with a black African? Why not someone oriental? Or Mongolian? Always black.

[Organic Panic]

We wuz helenz

[TigersEye]

The 2004 Helen appears to be Norwegian or Swedish.
Now in 2026 they intend to make Helen an African.

Someday someone will have the novel idea of hiring a Greek actress to play Helen.

[stanne]

Chris Nolan is just not woke Hollywood. Go from there

[ArcadeQuarters]

Yes they will. Easy question.

(Answer also applies to all other White or light skinned historical figures.)

[T.B. Yoits]

[T.B. Yoits]

[T.B. Yoits]

[T.B. Yoits]

[dfwgator]

Ha, all they need for that is Redd Foxx, “I’m comin’, Elizabeth!”

[Governor Dinwiddie]

I think she would be better cast as Prissy in Gone With The Wind.

[dfwgator]

Her last words, “There’s mother_____ snakes in this mother______ basket!”

[birg]

Quote-We wuz helenz

Lol. We wuz Kangz too

[TigersEye]

Oh, man, you guys are killing me here! LOL