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The Odyssey · written by Christopher Nolan · 2026
Scene 41 of 199 · ≈ 3 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 captivity with Calypso opens the parallel strand — a man who has forgotten his own family, slowly remembering his way home.
The three ships anchor in the island's bay for the night.
Odysseus leads a landing party ashore at dusk, eager despite his men's unease.
Following a stray sheep through darkening woods, Odysseus's men are led to the mouth of a huge cave.
This scene
Odysseus and his men make their way into the vast cave... A MASSIVE ROCK BY THE ENTRANCE... DARKER and DARKER... a SMOULDERING FIRE. Stacks of LARGE CHEESES... the sheep, lying deep in the cave, watches, DISINTERESTED...
EURYLOCHUS
Someone lives here.
Odysseus SAMPLES one of the cheeses.
ODYSSEUS
They make pretty good cheese.
EURYLOCHUS
We should leave. We've brought nothing to trade with.
ODYSSEUS
Zeus's law.
Eurylochus looks around the cave, trying to fathom who might live such a place...
EURYLOCHUS
I don't know if whoever lives here's heard of Zeus's law. Or Zeus, for that matter.
ODYSSEUS
Everyone knows Zeus's law. Get the fire going. We'll welcome the owner back.
Odysseus is examining several TREE TRUNKS lying around, carved into TAPERING SHAPES.
A SUDDEN RUSH OF HOOFBEATS, they all turn to the bright end of the cave, a hundred yards away, as a FLOCK OF SHEEP, RAMS, and GOATS comes RUNNING IN from the light...
The animals SURROUND the men, BLEATING. A DULL THUDDING shakes the earth... ALL EYES turn to the bright mouth of the cave as...
A MONSTROUS SILHOUETTE lowers its head to enter. Odysseus and his men stand, FROZEN, as the GIANT SHAPE DRAGS THE MASSIVE ROCK ACROSS THE CAVE ENTRANCE...
TOTAL DARKNESS. The gentle movement and BLEATING of the settling flock... WHISPERS amongst Odysseus's men...
EURYLOCHUS
(whisper)
What is that?
ODYSSEUS
Shhh...
The men instinctively gather around the brightening fire...
NOISES OF SCALE - MOVEMENT, SCRATCHING, OCEAN-DEEP BREATHS...
Odysseus sees his men gathered at the fire -- GESTURES --
ODYSSEUS (CONT'D)
(low)
Get away from the fire.
His men look at him, UNCOMPREHENDING. A Soldier on the far side looks at Odysseus, TERRIFIED --
WHOOOOSH -- A FLEETING IMPRESSION OF A GIANT HAND AND HE'S YANKED, SCREAMING, INTO DARKNESS...
The Soldiers SCAMPER into the darkness...
CLANG! BLOODY ARMOUR hits the ground near the fire.
ODYSSEUS (CONT'D)
Spread out!
Odysseus moves away from where he shouted, feels the WHOOSH of a GIANT HAND blowing past him in the dark... he stops, CROUCHED LOW, ready to run, peering into the dark... by the fire, a MASSIVE FOOT AND KNEE come down, dimly lit... suddenly a COLOSSAL FACE moves into the light, low above the fire, peering with a SINGLE GIANT EYE into the flames... a CYCLOPS.
The Cyclops REACHES INTO THE FIRE and pulls out a FLAMING LOG. RISES, holding the log like a large match, peering around with its grotesque watery eye, rolling in its socket, LIP-LIKE LIDS slow blinking moisture onto its glassy membrane... peering into darkness... until...
A SOLDIER SCREAMS as he is GRABBED AND SHOVED SQUIRMING INTO THE CYCLOPS'S MOUTH... the Cyclops drops the burning log to use both hands to REMOVE the indigestible SWORD AND ARMOUR of the soldier like a child eating a shrimp...
CYCLOPS
MMMMMMMMMMMM...
Odysseus, in the dark, makes out a SOLDIER near him, SHIVERING. Odysseus NODS, trying to reassure.
BY THE FIRE, the Cyclops lowers itself to the ground, lying near the fire and closing its eye, BLOOD DRIBBLING from the corner of its mouth.