Lupita Nyong'o plays Helen of Troy and which sister of Helen in The Odyssey?

Lupita Nyong’o plays Helen of Troy and her sister Clytemnestra in The Odyssey.

Helen and Clytemnestra are daughters of Leda in Greek mythology and are traditionally linked with the Spartan royal family. Helen marries Menelaus, while Clytemnestra marries his brother Agamemnon, the Greek commander in the Trojan War. Nolan’s film notably casts Nyong’o in both roles, making the resemblance between the sisters part of the production’s interpretation.

Helen is best known as the figure whose relationship with Paris becomes the immediate catalyst for the Trojan War. Clytemnestra has a darker and more independent mythic arc: after Agamemnon returns from Troy, she kills him in revenge for the sacrifice of their daughter Iphigenia, depending on the version of the legend.

Readers sometimes confuse Clytemnestra with Cassandra, who is a Trojan princess and prophetess, or with Andromache, Hector’s wife. Penelope is not Helen’s sister; she is Odysseus’s wife and the central figure waiting for his return to Ithaca.