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The Odyssey · written by Christopher Nolan · 2026
Scene 132 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.
At Menelaus's court, Telemachus impresses with a hunting shot as Menelaus needles him about his father's loyal swineherd.
On Calypso's beach, Odysseus admits he doesn't want to remember the truth — he's happy staying with her.
Nearing the Sirens, Odysseus has his men plug their ears with wax but has himself tied to the mast so he alone can hear their song.
This scene
A SHOUT from the LOOKOUT grabs Eurylochus's ATTENTION --
POLITES
White water!
He peers out to WHITECAPS on the horizon. An OMINOUS RUMBLE builds... Odysseus comes beside him...
EURYLOCHUS
Whitecaps? Out here?
ODYSSEUS
Charybdis.
EURYLOCHUS
What's that?
ODYSSEUS
A monstrous whirlpool.
Eurylochus jumps to the helm, looking out to the white water.
ODYSSEUS (CONT'D)
Can we head out to sea?
The Helmsman, ANTIPHATES, looks at the current pulling the ship --
ANTIPHATES
It's already got us...
Eurylochus looks to the cliffside... there is a NARROW CHANNEL in a CANYON.
EURYLOCHUS
We might make that canyon...
Odysseus looks ahead to the mouth of the canyon, JAGGED ROCKS STICKING OUT OF THE WATER across the mouth...
ODYSSEUS
It's too narrow.
He looks ahead to where the WHIRLPOOL HAS STARTED TO OPEN UP, the ocean dipping below the horizon in a dizzying SINKHOLE...
ODYSSEUS (CONT'D)
Take us across the whirlpool.
EURYLOCHUS
Charybdis will suck us down and
destroy us!
The ship is LEANING IN TO THE PULL OF THE WHIRLPOOL... the channel entrance is coming up fast...
ODYSSEUS
Don't be afraid, we can make it! Steer
down the slope, we can make enough way
to shoot out the other side.
Eurylochus looks at the raging whirlpool, then at the channel mouth.
EURYLOCHUS
No!
(to Helmsman)
We're making for the channel!
Odysseus RUSHES FOR THE TILLER -- TWO OF THE MEN GRAB HIM.
Odysseus lets himself be subdued as THE SHIP SHOOTS INTO THE CHANNEL MOUTH, OVER THE RAPIDS, SKIMMING PAST SHEER ROCK WALLS...
The ship SCRAPES the side of the canyon, WATER BURSTING THROUGH SPLIT PLANKS... MEN PUSH THE BOARDS BACK INTO PLACE...
Odysseus looks up at the cliff faces, waiting for the inevitable. His men release him, the CREW CHEERING as EURYLOCHUS SETTLES THE SHIP in the channel past the rapids...
Eurylochus turns to Odysseus, TRIUMPHANT.
EURYLOCHUS (CONT'D)
We made it.
Odysseus nods. Wary. At his oar, POLITES TURNS TO THE MAN NEXT TO HIM...
POLITES
We did it. We --
POLITES IS RIPPED, SCREAMING FROM THE SHIP BY A TOOTH-FILLED SET OF JAWS ON A SNAKE NECK --
ANOTHER SOLDIER IS TAKEN -- AND ANOTHER...
SCREAMS echoing through the canyon... The Helmsman looks around, PULLING the TILLER --
ODYSSEUS
Keep her straight!
Odysseus SHOUTS AT THE MEN --
ODYSSEUS (CONT'D)
PULL!
THREE MORE MEN ARE RIPPED FROM THE SHIP, SCREAMING, pulled up and into a dark crevice of the cliff above...
SILENCE. Deafening silence. Everyone in SHOCK. Eurylochus looks at Odysseus, DEVASTATED...
EURYLOCHUS
Why did I take us this way... ?
ODYSSEUS
It wasn't your fault.
EURYLOCHUS
What was that?
ODYSSEUS
Scylla.
Eurylochus looks back at the canyon, then to Odysseus...
EURYLOCHUS
Wait... you knew?
Odysseus says nothing.
EURYLOCHUS (CONT'D)
You knew, and didn't tell us.
ODYSSEUS
If I'd told you, you wouldn't have chosen this way.
EURYLOCHUS
And those men would be alive!
ODYSSEUS
No. We'd all be dead.
EURYLOCHUS
You had no right.
ODYSSEUS
I had every right. And every responsibility. The whirlpool would've destroyed the ship and all of us. This way we live.
EURYLOCHUS
Some of us live.
ODYSSEUS
Yes. Some of us.
EURYLOCHUS
What else did Tiresias tell you?
Odysseus looks away. The CREW GLARE AT HIM. The ship emerges from the canyon.