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The Odyssey · written by Christopher Nolan · 2026
Scene 30 of 199 · ≈ 2 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.
Telemachus secretly orders the old nursemaid to prepare a ship and supplies to smuggle him away before dawn.
At the docks, Telemachus and Mentor board a readied ship at first light.
As the ship departs Ithaca, Telemachus tells Mentor he's sailing to find his father, certain he's still alive.
This scene
We approach a FIGURE staring out at the ocean. Odysseus, now FIFTY, GRIZZLED, HEAVY GREY BEARD and eyes that have seen too much, trying to solve an impossible riddle --
INSERT CUT: IN CLAUSTROPHOBIC DARKNESS PACKED WITH MEN, ODYSSEUS PULLS HIMSELF UP OUT OF RISING WATER. A WARRIOR BELOW HIM IS SUBMERGED -- ODYSSEUS HANDS HIM A REED TO BREATHE THROUGH...
Odysseus puzzles over the image, walks through the shallows to where a piece of WEATHERED WOOD protrudes...
FEMALE VOICE (O.S.)
More dreams?
A DARK-HAIRED WOMAN in her TWENTIES with GREY EYES is next to him. This is ATHENA.
ODYSSEUS
(puzzled)
Men drowning. Inside... some... dark space...
INSERT CUT: A STONE HEAD FROM A STATUE OF ATHENA SETTLES ON DIRTY MARBLE, ROCKING FROM SIDE TO SIDE IN FLICKERING FIRELIGHT...
ODYSSEUS (CONT'D)
Firelight on stone... I don't know.
He shakes off the image, PULLS THE PLANK from the water, brushing his rough hands across the bleached smooth surface of the plank...
ATHENA
Don't you want to remember?
He turns to her, FRUSTRATED --
ODYSSEUS
Why can't Gods speak in ways we understand?
She shakes her head at him.
ATHENA
Who doesn't understand thunder? Or fire? A child's smile? Or a good harvest?
ODYSSEUS
But you hide yourselves from us.
She points at the sky...
ATHENA
Just look -- who's moving that cloud or massing those birds? Or darkening the sky?
Odysseus looks at the sky. When he turns back, ATHENA IS GONE...
From farther out in the shallows, a BEAUTIFUL BLONDE WOMAN approaches carrying a short SPEAR and FISH... This is CALYPSO.
CALYPSO
Who were you talking to?
She drops her spear and fish and crouches next to him.
Odysseus looks down at the wood in his hands, tosses it further up onto the sand, WHERE THERE ARE OTHER, SIMILAR PLANKS...
ODYSSEUS
Athena came to me again.
INSERT CUT: A STATUE OF ATHENA IS STRUCK WITH A BRONZE SWORD, SPARKING, BEHEADING, TUMBLING AMID FIRELIGHT ON STONE...
ODYSSEUS (CONT'D)
She's telling me to remember...
He turns to Calypso.
ODYSSEUS (CONT'D)
To leave.
CALYPSO
Why would you leave? We have everything we need.
ODYSSEUS
How long have I been here?
Calypso says nothing. Odysseus turns to her.
ODYSSEUS (CONT'D)
I have a home somewhere... there's someone... out there...
CALYPSO
How do you know?
ODYSSEUS
I don't know. I feel.
Calypso puts her hand on his face. INTIMATE. SYMPATHETIC. Dry THUNDER rumbles -- she glances up at the sky...