Did Zeus play a role in The Odyssey?

Yes. Zeus allowed Athene to help Odysseus get home. Zeus also allowed, his brother, Poseidon ('the earthshaker' & God of the Sea) to interfere, as Odysseus blinded his son, the cyclops, Polyphemus. This throws Odysseus far off course and kills his crew. Also Zeus also makes Aeolus the 'warden of the winds', allowing him to gift Odysseus a bag with 'every wind that blows' to get home to Ithaca but his crew's greed & mistrust results in their opening it and so they are again miles away but now required to row. All this is told in retrospect by an Odysseus still trying to get home*.

*lots of The Odyssey is told this way; Odysseus telling another party 'the tale' of his travels & his trials/torments retrospectively.