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The Odyssey · written by Christopher Nolan · 2026
Scene 21 of 199 · ≈ 3 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.
Telemachus climbs the stairs to the screen to see his mother.
Penelope tells Telemachus the elders have set her wedding to a suitor once she finishes weaving her father-in-law's burial shroud.
On the terrace, Penelope explains Ithaca fears attacks by mysterious "Sea People" and needs a king to raise an army.
This scene
Penelope and Odysseus LIE ON THE BED. The INFANT TELEMACHUS plays on CUSHIONS AND FURS laid out on the floor.
ODYSSEUS
Agamemnon is our king. The Trojans took his brother’s wife.
PENELOPE
Or she ran away with them.
ODYSSEUS
Either way, the Trojans will never give Helen up. And the walls of Troy are said to be impregnable. We’ll sit outside that great city trying to draw them into battle. As years go by, and Telemachus grows, and you learn life without me.
PENELOPE
Don’t. I’ll raise our boy and manage our kingdom until you return. Menelaus will give up on Helen.
Odysseus shakes his head, RESIGNED.
ODYSSEUS
This is Agamemnon’s excuse to break Troy’s control of the trading routes. He won’t let it pass. Ever.
PENELOPE
What if you refuse?
Odysseus looks at the infant Telemachus, now fast asleep, then back to Penelope. HE DOES NOT WANT TO ANSWER.
ODYSSEUS
He’ll take our son.
PENELOPE
He would never -- !
ODYSSEUS
He sacrificed his own daughter for favourable winds.
INSERT CUT: WE FOLLOW AGAMEMNON, IN HIS ARMOUR, CARRYING AN ADOLESCENT GIRL TOWARDS A STORMY SEA...
Penelope takes this in. APPALLED.
PENELOPE
Why would the Gods want his daughter’s life?
ODYSSEUS
The power of a sacrifice is in the cost to the person making it.
PENELOPE
That’s monstrous.
ODYSSEUS
And committed. I won’t return soon. If at all.
Penelope considers this. SUDDENLY --
PENELOPE
What if we ran?
She lifts up on the bed, EXCITED...
PENELOPE (CONT’D)
Took your fastest ship and brightest crew and headed for the horizon?
INSERT CUT: PENELOPE, BABY TELEMACHUS IN HER ARMS, AND ODYSSEUS STAND ON THE PROW OF A SHIP, ROWING WESTWARD AT DUSK...
PENELOPE (V.O.)
Penelope’s eyes glitter with excitement...
PENELOPE
Chasing the escaping sun...
Penelope LOOKS INTO ODYSSEUS’S EYES. Sees his longing...
PENELOPE (CONT’D)
There’s a world beyond these walls.
Odysseus shakes off her vision.
ODYSSEUS
Agamemnon’s vengeance would fall on all of Ithaca.
Odysseus looks at Penelope.
ODYSSEUS (CONT’D)
Promise me. If I’m not back by the time Telemachus comes of age -- promise you’ll take another husband --
Penelope SMACKS HIS FACE.
ODYSSEUS (CONT’D)
Enough sacrifices. Promise me.
PENELOPE
Love isn’t a sacrifice.
ODYSSEUS
Of course it is. And I don’t want you to make it.
PENELOPE
That’s not up to you.
ODYSSEUS
Promise me.
She looks into his eyes. Sees love asking.
PENELOPE
No. Promise me you’ll come back.
Odysseus LOOKS AT THIS WOMAN. Wanting to be everything for her.
ODYSSEUS
What if I can’t?
PENELOPE
Then your memory won’t be making my decisions.
She lies back, showing him a DECORATIVE PIN OF ATHENA ON HER BREAST.
PENELOPE (CONT’D)
Take my pin. Wear it. Always. Athena will bring you back.
Odysseus looks at the pin, SMILING.
ODYSSEUS
I’m not sure it suits me.
PENELOPE
When travellers claim to have seen you, I’ll ask them what you were wearing...
Odysseus removes the pin from her dress, OPENING IT...
PENELOPE (CONT’D)
And I’ll know if they’re lying.
Odysseus and Penelope EMBRACE, losing themselves in each other.