Tom Holland's 99% RT Historical Masterpiece Predicted His Role In The Odyssey

Published Oct 6, 2026, 9:30 PM EDT

Adrienne Tyler is a movies & TV features writer, with a focus on horror. She has written for Netflix, FanSided, & more. She was a regular guest on the Netfreaks podcast and was a YouTuber at some point. Guillermo del Toro said “hi” to her once.

Before The Odyssey and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Tom Holland starred in a historical drama TV show that perfectly predicted his role as Telemachus in The Odyssey. Tom Holland is now best known for playing the MCU’s version of Peter Parker/Spider-Man, a role that has opened many more doors for him in his acting career. Most recently, Holland played Telemachus in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, one of 2026's best movies so far.

While the MCU boosted Tom Holland’s career, he wasn’t a newcomer when he first suited up as Spider-Man. Holland’s acting career began in theater in Billy Elliot the Musical in 2008, before making his big screen debut four years later in The Impossible. In between MCU projects and before The Odyssey, Holland starred in projects like The Lost City of Z, Cherry, Chaos Walking, and The Devil All the Time. However, a lesser-known side of Holland’s career is his TV work.

Holland made his TV debut in 2015 in the British historical drama Wolf Hall, a project that arrived shortly before his first appearance in the MCU. Wolf Hall is one of Holland’s lesser-known and thus most underrated works, but funnily enough, his role in it ended up predicting his role as Telemachus in The Odyssey, as they have some interesting similarities.

Tom Holland’s Wolf Hall Performance Was His Last Role Before Movie Superstardom

BBC

Wolf Hall is a TV adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s historical novels Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies, and The Mirror & the Light, and was directed by Peter Kosminsky. Wolf Hall’s first season aired on BBC Two in 2015, and the second series arrived in 2024, this time on BBC One. Wolf Hall, then, is a fictionalized biography that tells the story of Thomas Cromwell, a statesman and lawyer from humble beginnings who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII.

Thomas Cromwell was played in the historical drama show The Tudors by James Frain.

Season 1 of Wolf Hall is set at a time in Cromwell’s career where his master, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey (Jonathan Pryce), is about to fall from power after his failure to secure the annulment of King Henry VIII’s marriage. The show’s first six episodes follow Cromwell’s rise to political power, culminating with the execution of Anne Boleyn. Season 2 picks up right after that, covering Cromwell’s rise and Henry’s third and fourth marriages, the latter leading to Cromwell’s downfall and execution.

Tom Holland starred in season 1 as Gregory Cromwell, Thomas’ only son, who would go on to become a wealthy landowner and the brother-in-law of Henry VIII. For Wolf Hall’s second season, Charlie Rowe was cast as Gregory. As mentioned above, Wolf Hall arrived right before Holland’s first MCU appearance in Captain America: Civil War, marking his last role before he became one of the biggest stars of the decade, and, at the time of writing, the highest-grossing lead actor.

Gregory Cromwell Is Wolf Hall’s Version Of Telemachus In The Odyssey

While Wolf Hall and The Odyssey are two completely different stories, in different time settings and places, there are some key similarities between Tom Holland’s characters in these projects. In The Odyssey, Telemachus is Odysseus’ (Matt Damon) son, who sets out to find his father while his mother, Penelope (Anne Hathaway), fends off several suitors.

Wolf Hall’s Gregory Cromwell is sheltered by his father from the dark sides of court life but ensures that he receives the best education to guarantee his future status. Like Telemachus, Gregory lives under his father’s shadow – Odysseus was a legendary warrior, while Thomas Cromwell was a political genius. Both Gregory and Telemachus have to prove themselves, but they also learn a lot from their fathers. Wolf Hall makes an interesting double feature with The Odyssey, and it’s a must-watch for those into Tom Holland’s work.