‘Troy’ Cast Then and Now, 20 Years After the Brad Pitt Epic Premiered
Twenty years ago, Troy and its cast made its mark on epic filmmaking. Director Wolfgang Petersen’s take on Homer’s Iliad featured an ensemble cast led by Brad Pitt and created a wildly entertaining, if not entirely accurate, movie.
Working from a script by future Games of Thrones showrunner David Benioff, the Troy cast brought to life legends like Achilles, Helen of Troy, and Hector. Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, and Diane Kruger were among those who joined Pitt in the impressive cast. While many of the actors haven’t made another film on Troy‘s scale, they continue to perform in blockbuster movies 20 years later.
Brad Pitt
A 40-year-old Brad Pitt starred as the de facto lead of the Troy cast as the hero Achilles. However, as Pitt admitted in 2019, he didn’t want any part of Troy.
“I had to do Troy because – I guess I can say all this now – I pulled out of another movie and then had to do something for the studio,” he told the New York Times. “So I was put in Troy. It wasn’t painful, but I realized that the way that movie was being told was not how I wanted it to be.“
Obviously, it didn’t have any adverse effects on Pitt’s career. After winning a Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 2019, he co-stars in 2024’s Wolfs with George Clooney.
Orlando Bloom
Orlando Bloom was 27 and at the height of his fame when he was given the role of Paris in Troy. He’d made a name for himself with the Pirates of the Caribbean and Lord of the Rings franchises. It may not be his favorite part, but at least he avoided major injury (unlike his co-stars).
In 2024, Bloom starred in the action thriller Red Right Hand. He also leads the Peacock series Orlando Bloom: To the Edge, where he explores the world and performs death-defying stunts.
Eric Bana
Troy is sandwiched between Hulk and Munich in Eric Bana’s filmography. The Australian actor’s role as Hector is another example of how Petersen’s epic managed to cast every part perfectly. Bana was 36 when he went head-to-head with Brad Pitt.
Bana returned to his role as Aaron Falk in 2024’s Force of Nature: The Dry 2, an Australian mystery thriller. Bana also stars in A Sacrifice, based on Nicholas Hogg’s 2015 novel Tokyo.
Diane Kruger
Director Wolfgang Petersen didn’t want Helen of Troy to appear on screen because no actor could live up to expectations of this mythical beauty. But when the studio pushed back, the director cast a 28-year-old then-unknown Diane Kruger.
The German actor appears in David Cronenberg’s 2024 horror film The Shrouds. Then, she portrays German-American singer and actor Marlene Dietrich in the series Marlene.
Sean Bean
Years before playing Odysseus in Troy (and decades before becoming Ned Stark in Game of Thrones), Sean Bean impressed with roles in GoldenEye, The Lord of the Rings, and National Treasure. Bean was 45 years old when he took on the role of Ithica’s king.
2024 will see Bean lend his voice to the animated science-fiction series Rogue Trooper, based on the comic strip of the same name. He’ll then play Thomas Cromwell in the Disney+ series Shardlake.
Brian Cox
Brian Cox admitted that the role of Agamemnon was the only one he ever pursued. By the time Troy came around, the 58-year-old Cox had already been acting for over 30 years.
Cox’s career hit a new level with Succession. In 2024, his credits include a voice role in The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, the Paramount+ film Little Wing, and the Netflix film The Electric State.
Brendan Gleeson
Like Cox, Brendan Gleeson brought a level of experience and gravitas to Troy that couldn’t be done by his younger co-stars. Gleeson, 49, portrayed Menelaus, the younger brother to Agamemnon.
Gleeson earned an Academy Award nomination for his 2022 film The Banshees of Inisherin. In 2024, he plays a supporting role in Joker: Folie a Deux.
Rose Byrne
Rose Byrne, 25, landed the role of Briseis in Troy after Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai turned it down because of the love scenes. Byrne had primarily done Australian movies up to that point, save for a minor role in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones.
Since Troy, Byrne has proven to be a talented and versatile actor. Upcoming projects include the film If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You, produced by the Safdie brothers; the drama Tow, co-starring Demi Lovato and Ariana DeBose; and a second season of her Apple TV+ series Platonic with Seth Rogen.
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Troy, stream the epic on Prime.
