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The Odyssey · written by Christopher Nolan · 2026
Scene 129 of 199 · ≈ 2 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.
Antinous guesses Telemachus has gone to Sparta to see Menelaus, but decides against pursuit.
Melanthius drags Eumaeus into the light after catching him eavesdropping.
Antinous banishes Eumaeus from the palace grounds after catching him spying, leaving the dying dog Argus behind.
This scene
HELEN AND HER MAIDS watch as Telemachus hunts with Menelaus. Menelaus watches, approving, as Telemachus WHIPS HIS BOW UP, SHOOTING A BIRD MIDFLIGHT.
MENELAUS
Who taught you to hunt?
TELEMACHUS
My father's swineherd.
MENELAUS
His swineherd?
TELEMACHUS
His most loyal servant.
Menelaus laughs --
MENELAUS
Of course he'd leave his most loyal
man behind. He was always the
smartest. The only one Agamemnon ever
listened to. He should've listened
harder.
TELEMACHUS
Can I ask... What happened to your
brother?
Menelaus starts dressing the bird...
MENELAUS
His wife betrayed him. When he
returned from Troy, she and her lover
murdered him. Years before I made it
home.
TELEMACHUS
What did you do to them?
MENELAUS
His son, Orestes, had already killed
them both.
TELEMACHUS
(appalled)
He killed his own mother?
Menelaus looks at Telemachus, HARD.
MENELAUS
He avenged his father.
Telemachus nods uncertainly... Menelaus GRINS --
MENELAUS (CONT'D)
Don't worry, your mother has nothing
in common with Clytemnestra.
TELEMACHUS
Maybe not, but the suitors have
convinced the Elders she needs to
remarry.
MENELAUS
It's a bad time for an empty throne.
You've heard stories of the people
from the sea?
TELEMACHUS
Have you been raided?
MENELAUS
getting closer. Sparta's ready. How
will Ithaca raise an army to defend
itself?
TELEMACHUS
Someone has to take the throne.
MENELAUS
Then the battle's there, not here.
You've run away from the problem.
Telemachus looks hard at Menelaus. Who SHAKES HIS HEAD.
MENELAUS (CONT'D)
And you've left your mother at the
mercy of those suitors.
TELEMACHUS
Should I hire mercenaries? Go back and
kill them all?
MENELAUS
Murder the rich and powerful guests in
your house? You'd be exiled.
TELEMACHUS
What, then?
MENELAUS
You have to evict them without
violating Zeus's law.
TELEMACHUS
(understanding)
I have to take the throne. I need to
know Odysseus's fate...
MENELAUS
This isn't about a father you've never
known. You have to lead...