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The Odyssey · written by Christopher Nolan · 2026
Scene 170 of 199 · ≈ 1 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 remembered ordeal — Troy, the Cyclops, Circe, Hades, Charybdis — paid for in men, ships, and years, while Telemachus searches the courts of Sparta.
Odysseus makes landfall on Ithaca at last, alone but alive — what he wanted, stripped of everything else.
At Eumaeus's hut, disguised as a beggar, Odysseus begins quietly assembling the plan to reclaim his house.
That night in the hall, the bard again performs his song of Troy as the suitors gather to feast, Telemachus watching them.
Odysseus, disguised, walks through his home town drinking in everything he hasn't seen in twenty years.
The suitors listen to the bard's continuing song as Antinous notices Telemachus slip outside.
This scene
Telemachus WATCHES Odysseus and Eumaeus CLIMB THE STAIRS TO THE PALACE.
BARD (O.S.)
A man.
BANG!
Odysseus lets Eumaeus go ahead as he takes in his old home, TEARS WELLING, memories tumbling in...
BARD (O.S.) (CONT'D)
A thought.
BANG!
Telemachus SEES ARGUS LYING ON THE DUNG PILE... Odysseus SHUFFLES towards him like the old beggar he is dressed as...
BARD (O.S.) (CONT'D)
A trick.
Telemachus sees Odysseus NOTICE Argus... thinks...
BANG!
Odysseus STARES at the ancient dog lying on the dung pile as if dead...
ODYSSEUS
Eumaeus, go ahead.
At the sound of ODYSSEUS'S VOICE, Argus's EYES OPEN. Odysseus CROUCHES to rub the dog's threadbare grey fur...
ODYSSEUS (CONT'D)
(quiet)
Argus...
Argus's TAIL GIVES A WEAK WAG...
ODYSSEUS (CONT'D)
Argus...
Now argus is DEAD. Odysseus NODS at his old friend, ONE LAST PAT, then STRAIGHTENS... to find Telemachus, RIGHT THERE --
ODYSSEUS (CONT'D)
You should bury him up on the cliffs.
TELEMACHUS
Where you met.
Odysseus just looks at his son, TEARS IN HIS EYES.
TELEMACHUS (CONT'D)
(quiet)
You're Odysseus. You're my father.
ODYSSEUS
I'm a beggar, and you... you're the worthy, beautiful son of Odysseus, of whom, when you do finally meet, he will be so proud...
Telemachus looks into his FATHER'S EYES...
TELEMACHUS
(louder)
Welcome, stranger.
Telemachus turns inside, CALLING OVER HIS SHOULDER --