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The Odyssey · written by Christopher Nolan · 2026
Scene 16 of 199 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act one
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.
Flashback: teenage Odysseus hunts a boar with the young Argus and the future suitors, including Sinon and Antinous, watching as boyhood friends before the war.
Flashback: Odysseus is stitched up after the boar gored him and jokes with Eumaeus about testing his bow's tension.
Present: Eumaeus coaches Telemachus to fight through hesitation rather than a perfect defense, and Telemachus finally lands a disarming strike on Mentor.
This scene
Odysseus and Eumaeus watch SHIPS APPROACH. The lead ship has a BLACK SAIL...
EUMAEUS (V.O.)
Their fathers hid them. Odysseus didn’t judge. You and your mother meant more to him than promises of glory...
Odysseus looks at Eumaeus. CONCERNED.
INSERT CUT: ODYSSEUS AND PENELOPE PLAY WITH THE INFANT TELEMACHUS.
An IMPOSING figure in extraordinary BLACKENED BRONZE ARMOUR approaches Odysseus. This is AGAMEMNON. Odysseus KNEELS BEFORE HIM. Agamemnon pulls Odysseus to his feet in BROTHERLY EMBRACE...
EUMAEUS (V.O.)
And he knew Agamemnon’s war would take many lives and many years.
Odysseus, tears down his cheeks, looks at Agamemnon. Nods.
EUMAEUS (V.O.)
So he raised his army by lottery.
INSERT CUT: A LINE OF YOUNG MEN SNAKES UP THE HILLSIDE TO WHERE EUMAEUS IS TAKING THEIR LOTS... TEENAGE SINON AND TEENAGE ANTINOUS REACH THE FRONT OF THE LINE TOGETHER...
TELEMACHUS
By lots? Antinous told me he volunteered...
Eumaeus shifts, UNCOMFORTABLE.
EUMAEUS
That’s how your father talked about it.
INSERT CUT: EUMAEUS WAVES ODYSSEUS OVER TO TALK TO TEENAGE SINON AND TEENAGE ANTINOUS. TEENAGE ANTINOUS IS HOLDING A WOODEN LOT WITH NOTCHES IN ITS SIDE... ODYSSEUS LISTENS TO THEIR PLEAS. HE TAKES THE LOT FROM TEENAGE ANTINOUS AND HANDS IT TO TEENAGE SINON. HE WAVES ANTINOUS’S FATHER OVER...
ODYSSEUS
Your boy tried to take Sinon’s place. I’m not letting him. He needs to stay here and look after his family.
ANTINOUS’S FATHER looks at Odysseus, TEARFULLY GRATEFUL...
ANTINOUS’S FATHER
He can watch over your boy, too.
ODYSSEUS
Of course.