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The Odyssey · written by Christopher Nolan · 2026
Scene 122 of 199 · ≈ 3 min on screen · Act two
Twenty years after leaving for the Trojan War, Odysseus fights his way home across a hostile sea only to find his kingdom overrun — and must return in disguise to reclaim his wife, his son, and his throne from the suitors laying siege to his house.
Ithaca frozen in a decade of waiting: Penelope weaving, the suitors feasting, Telemachus unheard.
Telemachus needs proof of his father's fate; Penelope needs the throne secured before the suitors force her hand.
Telemachus sails from Ithaca in secret, crossing into the unfamiliar world beyond his mother's house.
Odysseus's captivity with Calypso opens the parallel strand — a man who has forgotten his own family, slowly remembering his way home.
Circe begins transforming Odysseus's starving men into pigs mid-feast — the crew's appetite becomes literal cost, and Odysseus is forced to act alone.
Flashback: Agamemnon, murdered by his wife Clytemnestra in his own bed, reveals in voiceover the betrayal and guilt that doomed him at home.
Agamemnon's shade begs Odysseus for news of his son's revenge and warns him not to walk into his own house expecting a hero's welcome.
In Calypso's cave, a distraught Odysseus panics over the fate of his lost comrades until Calypso calms him with a dose of lotus.
This scene
Penelope at her loom, PATIENTLY WEAVES THE BURIAL SHROUD...
ODYSSEUS (V.O.)
Do I have a wife?
Antinous steps past the screen into the chamber. Penelope looks at him, SURPRISED. Her Maid, Melantho, TRIES TO STOP HIM APPROACHING.
PENELOPE
It's alright, Melantho.
Antinous steps forward...
PENELOPE (CONT'D)
Strangers don't come in here.
ANTINOUS
Screen or no screen, after three years of feasting together we're far from strangers, Penelope.
PENELOPE
Do you want to marry me, or ruin my reputation?
Antinous nods at Melantho.
ANTINOUS
Melantho can be discreet.
He LOOKS OVER PENELOPE'S SHOULDER at her work...
ANTINOUS (CONT'D)
And I'm actually here out of concern for your reputation.
PENELOPE
Oh?
ANTINOUS
Everybody sees how hard you work.
PENELOPE
Slow, steady progress.
ANTINOUS
But, every night, you've been unravelling that work.
Penelope turns to Melantho. Hard.
PENELOPE
So much for discretion.
(to Melantho)
Leave us.
Antinous watches Melantho go. They EXCHANGE A LOOK as she passes...
ANTINOUS
You can't expect her to be loyal to a master she never even knew.
PENELOPE
I expect her to be loyal to me.
ANTINOUS
And she will be, when you're married to me. Slaves have no choice but to be loyal to the future. This is a household waiting for a master, just as Ithaca's a kingdom waiting for a king.
PENELOPE
Ithaca's king is coming back.
ANTINOUS
No. He's not.
He moves closer, to SPEAK MORE DISCREETLY.
ANTINOUS (CONT'D)
Did you know that as a boy I tried to go with him to Troy?
PENELOPE
He never told me that.
ANTINOUS
I tried to take the place of our shepherd's son. Odysseus refused to let me. He knew that Ithaca needed a future without him, and he saw me as part of that future.
Antinous picks up the threads of the shroud, TUGGING, experimentally.
ANTINOUS (CONT'D)
I'll never tell the other Suitors about your deception. But finish your weaving. It's time to let him go.
Penelope studies Antinous...
PENELOPE
Why would you want to marry someone who loves somebody else?
ANTINOUS
Your loyalty to Odysseus is one of your finest qualities.
Antinous looks into her eyes.
ANTINOUS (CONT'D)
I love you. I want you to choose me, and end all this. Don't tell me you're not tired. The waiting, the uncertainty. You've done your duty year after year after year. It's time to think of yourself. It's time to live again... it's what Odysseus would've wanted.
Penelope looks back at him. Exhausted. TEMPTED.
ANTINOUS (CONT'D)
I'll take care of all your needs, my Queen.
He gently reaches towards her face...
PENELOPE
And my son?
ANTINOUS
The throne is his. He's the heir.
Antinous BRUSHES A STRAND OF HAIR from her face...
ANTINOUS (CONT'D)
Unless we have a child of our own.
TOO MUCH. Penelope turns back to her work, ASHAMED.
ANTINOUS (CONT'D)
Where is Telemachus?
PENELOPE
He went inland to see his grandfather.