The Odyssey · written by Christopher Nolan · 2026

Penelope presses Telemachus for news of Odysseus; he has none, but reports growing talk across Greece of civilization collapsing under attacks by the "Sea People."

Scene 166 of 199 · ≈ 2 min on screen · Act two

Telemachus
Penelope
Bard

Act oneAct two

Begins 1:56 into a 2:26 film

The story so farBefore scene 166

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.

Scenes 1–9
Ithaca frozen in a decade of waiting: Penelope weaving, the suitors feasting, Telemachus unheard.
Scenes 9–27
Telemachus needs proof of his father's fate; Penelope needs the throne secured before the suitors force her hand.
Scenes 28–29
Telemachus sails from Ithaca in secret, crossing into the unfamiliar world beyond his mother's house.
Scenes 30–144
Odysseus's remembered ordeal — Troy, the Cyclops, Circe, Hades, Charybdis — paid for in men, ships, and years, while Telemachus searches the courts of Sparta.
Scene 145
Odysseus makes landfall on Ithaca at last, alone but alive — what he wanted, stripped of everything else.
Scene 151
At Eumaeus's hut, disguised as a beggar, Odysseus begins quietly assembling the plan to reclaim his house.
Just before
Scene 163
Telemachus walks openly through the town as word of his return spreads ahead of him.
Scene 164
The palace gatekeepers recognize Telemachus and raise the alarm of his return.
Scene 165
News of Telemachus's return reaches Antinous and Penelope, throwing the suitors' camp into confusion.
Scene 166
This scene

166INT. PENELOPE'S CHAMBER, PALACE OF ITHACA - MOMENTS LATER

Melantho hands Telemachus a DRINK. Penelope WAVES HER OFF.

TELEMACHUS

Menelaus --

Penelope GESTURES silence. WAITS for Melantho to leave...

PENELOPE

What did you hear about your father?

TELEMACHUS

Nothing. Stories from the war. But no one knew what happened to him after he left Troy. I'm sorry, Mom.

Penelope hides her disappointment. Telemachus LOOKS AWAY.

TELEMACHUS (CONT'D)

Everybody in Sparta's talking about a coming catastrophe, an age of darkness brought on by people from the sea violating Zeus's law.

PENELOPE

So the stories are true. Our civilization is collapsing.

TELEMACHUS

Menelaus is concerned that we can't raise an army with an empty throne. We came up with a plan.

Penelope looks at him, SURPRISED.

PENELOPE

What plan?

TELEMACHUS

The one way to get these suitors to leave. It's time for you to choose.

Penelope looks at him, SHOCKED.

PENELOPE

You want me to remarry?

TELEMACHUS

If you remarry, the other suitors will leave. I'm almost of age, I'll tell the Elders I learned of Odysseus's death in Sparta. Menelaus will back me up. They'll let me assume the throne.

PENELOPE

So you deny your father and I leave my home to go live with one of these snakes? That's your plan?!

TELEMACHUS

You have a better one?

PENELOPE

Lock the door, set a fire and burn the bastards.

Penelope squares up to her son, LOOKING INTO HIS EYES --

PENELOPE (CONT'D)

Telemachus, you think if I remarry life goes back to the way it was? That world is gone, and in this one they're not giving up power to you. Or Odysseus. If he returned he'd have to kill them. Like you will.

TELEMACHUS

If I kill the Suitors their families will demand revenge - I'll be exiled. And without me the throne will be lost.

PENELOPE