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The Odyssey · written by Christopher Nolan · 2026
Scene 81 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.
Odysseus tells Calypso his men grew convinced he had offended Poseidon.
The fleet beaches on an unfamiliar, wintry shore.
Odysseus leads his men through snow and dense forest.
This scene
Odysseus spots an ARMOURED FIGURE crouched at a stream, back to them. Eurylochus starts to DRAW HIS SWORD -- Odysseus shakes his head. They approach CAUTIOUSLY...
ODYSSEUS
Hello?
The Figure RISES to its feet. It is THICKLY BUILT, and slightly taller than them.
ODYSSEUS (CONT'D)
We're here in peace...
The Armoured Figure slowly turns to face them...
It has the face of a child.
Odysseus looks at Eurylochus, UNNERVED...
The monstrous child starts GIGGLING.
Odysseus, now face to face, smiles...
ODYSSEUS (CONT'D)
We need food. Food?
Odysseus mimes eating. Eurylochus steps forward.
EURYLOCHUS
We're hungry! Can't you understand?
The Monstrous Child STOPS GIGGLING, looking from one to other.
ODYSSEUS
It's just a child.
Eurylochus looks at the Monstrous Child, APPALLED...
EURYLOCHUS
A child?
The Monstrous Child, SEEING EURYLOCHUS'S EXPRESSION, BACKS AWAY.
EURYLOCHUS (CONT'D)
If this is a child... what about its parents... ?
The Monstrous Child starts SCREAMING...
Odysseus and his men turn around, scanning the sea of tree trunks... Eurylochus tries to SHUSH the Monstrous Child...
Odysseus sees SHAPES EMERGING through the MISTY SNOW, large shapes MOVING TOWARDS THEM between the tree trunks...
ARMOURED WARRIORS, TEN TO TWELVE FEET TALL, HELMETS flat like birds of prey, come towards Odysseus and his men... these are the LAESTRYGONIANS. A Soldier DRAWS HIS SWORD, attempting to face off with a warrior twice his height, and is CUT DOWN instantly... Odysseus and his men run...
One of them RUNS and RUNS into the INCREASINGLY DENSE TREE TRUNKS, until he cannot pass... he turns back in the other direction, but the tree trunks behind are now TIGHTER and TIGHTER together as if the DIMINISHING PERSPECTIVE of the forest were, in fact, real...
TRAPPED BY THE CAGE OF TRUNKS, THEY ARE STABBED BY LAESTRYGONIANS THROUGH GAPS IN THE TREES...
Odysseus HACKS A LEG then turns, RUNNING BLIND, desperate through the circling trees...
He BURSTS out of the trees and INTO THE WATER... his men follow... he gets onto his boat, as the other men try to PUSH the beached boats off the sand... Odysseus draws his BOW, LOOSING ARROWS at the narrow VISORS of the Laestrygonians as they WADE IMPLACABLY INTO THE WATER, mowing down the men pushing on the boats... Odysseus DOWNS TWO OF THEM, the others IGNORE him as they pound his men, BLOOD and FOAM churning in the shallows... the men on the ship racing to their oars and calling to their comrades...
Laestrygonians grab one of the ships, pulling down on one side to swamp the boat and grab the crew, FLINGING THEM ASIDE LIKE RAG DOLLS...
Odysseus's men start to row away...
ODYSSEUS
Wait! Wait for the others!
He AIMS HIS BOW, targeting a Laestrygonian who is bearing down on Eurylochus in the shallows, sea flying up around him... Odysseus SHOOTS THE LAESTRYGONIAN IN THE FACE, who stumbles to his knees as Eurylochus RUNS and RUNS and swims...
SEVERAL of Odysseus's men have GRABBED ON TO LAESTRYGONIAN WARRIORS, RIDING MASSIVE SHOULDERS AND ARMS LIKE BUCKING BRONCOS... the Laestrygonians hack the boats to pieces...
Odysseus SHOOTS and SHOOTS as men, including Eurylochus, climb aboard... Odysseus sees that the other men and THE TWO OTHER SHIPS are DOOMED, MASSACRED by the LAESTRYGONIANS...
ODYSSEUS (CONT'D)
PULL!! PULL FOR YOUR LIVES!!!
Odysseus and Eurylochus watch the carnage as the ship pushes out into deeper water... THEY SIT on opposite sides of the ship, GASPING, HEAVING, GRIEVING... in shock for the losses. Odysseus looks up to see ATHENA SITTING THERE ON THE DECK. She shakes her head at him. He looks down, ASHAMED...