INT. ST. LUKE'S PSYCHIATRIC WARD - NIGHT
A dim, sterile room.
WILLIAM MCMAHON (70s), a forgotten academic, scribbles into a journal with trembling hands. His room is lined with faded articles and photos-all connected to Jay Gatsby. On the wall: a blown-up NYT obituary for Nick Carraway.
The door opens.
Eliza Carraway enters quietly, holding Nick's journal.
ELIZA
You wrote to him. My uncle. Do you remember?
William stares at her. Then starts laughing-a hollow, bitter sound.
WILLIAM
(he pauses... eyes wide)
You saw him, didn't you?
You saw-
⸻
INT. ELIZA'S APARTMENT - EARLY MORNING
Eliza wakes up on the couch surrounded by notes, clippings, and Nick's writings. There's a knock. It's her roommate JUNO WELLS, a fast-talking, queer, aspiring fashion designer with a conspiracy podcast on the side.
JUNO
Please tell me you're not going full Zodiac wall.
ELIZA
I think Gatsby was involved in a cover-up going back decades.
JUNO (half-joking)
Cool. Want coffee or tinfoil?
But Eliza holds up a photo: Julian standing next to a senator... from 1959.
Juno stares. Stops joking.
⸻
INT. BUCHANAN TOWER - RENEE'S OFFICE
Renee meets with ALISTAIR BLACK, a sleek legal enforcer with ties to blackmail rings.
RENEE
Gatsby is dangerous because he believes his myth.
(beat)
I don't care if he's real, a clone, or a vampire-break the legend.
Alistair opens a file: surveillance of Eliza.
ALISTAIR
She's stirring the ashes.
(leans in)
Do I snuff the spark?
RENEE (coldly)
Not yet. Let's see what ghosts she wakes.
⸻
INT. GATSBY'S PENTHOUSE - NIGHT
Julian hosts a "quiet" salon: poets, models, Wall Street wolves.
In the corner, Leo approaches with a heavy look.
LEO
The girl. Carraway. She's asking questions.
JULIAN (gently sipping bourbon)
Let her ask. People don't want the truth.
(smiles faintly)
They want Gatsby.
⸻
INT. ST. LUKE'S - BACK HALLWAY - LATER
Eliza sneaks into the closed wing of the psychiatric hospital. She finds Room 7. Inside: dusty boxes with Nick's name.
She opens one. Inside:
• Old voice recorders.
• Faded photos of young Jay Gatsby.
• A journal titled "Gatsby II?"
On a cassette: "FINAL RECORDING - 1969"
She plays it. Nick's voice crackles:
NICK (V.O.)
"If you're hearing this... he's still out there. He's changed faces. Names. But the lie remains the same. He builds kingdoms on broken dreams."
Behind her, a SHADOW MOVES.
Eliza turns-no one's there.
But on the wall, in sharpie:
"You can't haunt what isn't dead."
⸻
INT. PRIVATE CLUB - NIGHT
Renee meets with City Commissioner Douglass and Leo, secretly. Tension's thick.
RENEE
I want Julian Gatsby discredited. Not murdered. That's too clean.
(beat)
Make him... ordinary.
LEO
That might be worse than killing him.
⸻
INT. ELIZA'S APARTMENT - LATE NIGHT
Juno and Eliza sync the audio to an old projector. They find a photo Nick described in the journal-a snapshot of Gatsby... standing over a body at an East Egg dock.
JUNO
Is this a murder photo?
ELIZA
It's a memory. Buried.
In the background, an eerie hum builds.
They rewind. Freeze frame.
Behind Gatsby... is Renee's father, much younger.
ELIZA
This wasn't a party. It was a crime scene.
⸻
ENDING SCENE
INT. GATSBY'S PENTHOUSE - NIGHT
Julian stands alone, the cityscape reflected behind him. He touches an old photograph of Nick Carraway.
JULIAN
You said I believed in the green light, Nick.
(soft)
But it was always red, wasn't it?
Suddenly: a call comes in on the secure line.
VOICE (DISTORTED)
She's found the tape.
Julian doesn't flinch.
JULIAN
Then it begins again.
He opens a secret drawer - inside:
A cigarette case. A blood-stained ring. And Nick's original manuscript.
INT. ELIZA'S APARTMENT - EARLY MORNING
Rain pelts the windows. Eliza can't sleep. The projector hums beside her.
She rewinds Nick's tape one more time. As it plays, she begins writing notes:
"Julian Gatsby = ???"
"Who was on the dock?"
"Cover-up: Renee's father?"
Suddenly - the audio distorts. A faint second voice, buried under Nick's:
UNKNOWN VOICE (V.O.)
"It wasn't supposed to happen like that..."
Juno stirs from the couch.
JUNO
That sounded like a confession.
ELIZA
It wasn't Nick. It was him. Gatsby.
⸻
INT. GATSBY'S PENTHOUSE - STUDY - SAME NIGHT
Julian stands before a mirror, eyes bloodshot. His reflection almost looks... younger. Wrong.
He reaches into the drawer and pulls out Nick's manuscript pages - some torn, some stained.
JULIAN
You couldn't let it go, could you?
Flashback - quick, silent shots of a confrontation between Nick and Gatsby in a dark library. Nick is pointing a finger, Gatsby just watching... calm.
Back to present.
Julian tosses the pages into the fireplace. Watches them burn.
⸻
INT. MILES CARAWAY'S OFFICE - MIDDAY
Eliza confronts her father, who's clearly shaken now.
ELIZA
You knew he wasn't dead. Julian Gatsby.
MILES
You think the world makes room for people like him? It protects them, Eliza.
He hands her an old key and a name:
"East Egg Mausoleum. Look beneath the tomb."
⸻
INT. EAST EGG MAUSOLEUM - LATER
Eliza and Juno break into the crypt under stormy skies. Inside: a false floor. Beneath it...
A hidden vault filled with photos, documents... and a video reel labeled:
"Gatsby '56 - Blacklight Program Footage"
They don't know it, but as they move deeper into the vault, a red laser from a long-range camera tracks them silently.
⸻
INT. BUCHANAN TOWER - NIGHT
Renee sits across from Julian in a high-rise penthouse suite. For the first time, they speak face-to-face.
RENEE
She's your mess. Clean it up.
JULIAN
She's not a mess.
(beat)
She's a Carraway. And they always come back to the fire.
RENEE
You're still pretending to be human, aren't you?
Julian smiles.
JULIAN
I never pretended.
(beat, darker)
I just let them believe.
RENEE (cold)
Gatsby...
⸻
Back in the vault, Juno plays the reel on an old projector. It shows a young Gatsby being led through a facility by military men. Experiments. Training. Psychological testing.
A frame flickers showing a page titled:
"PROJECT PROMETHEUS - Behavioral Weaponization Through Persona Engineering"
JUNO (softly)
What the hell is he?
INT. EAST EGG MAUSOLEUM VAULT - NIGHT
Eliza and Juno huddle by the flickering projector light. The PROJECT PROMETHEUS footage plays on the cracked screen: a younger Gatsby being subjected to strange tests-lights, chemicals, and intense psychological pressure.
Suddenly, the projector cuts out with a loud pop. The red laser from before activates, locking onto them.
ELIZA
Juno, we're not alone.
They spin around - footsteps echo behind the vault's entrance.
⸻
INT. MAUSOLEUM HALLWAY
ALISTAIR BLACK stands, calm, his silhouette sharp against the dim light.
ALISTAIR
Curiosity kills, Ms. Carraway.
Eliza's heart pounds.
JUNO (whispering)
Time to run?
Eliza doesn't move. She steps forward, voice steady.
ELIZA
You work for Renee.
ALISTAIR
I work for order.
(approaches)
And sometimes, that means erasing ghosts.
He reaches to seize the tape.
⸻
INT. GATSBY'S PENTHOUSE - SAME TIME
Julian watches unseen monitors tracking Eliza and Juno.
He sips his bourbon and murmurs.
JULIAN
The Carraways have no idea what they're waking.
His eyes flash briefly - unnatural, predatory.
⸻
INT. EAST EGG MAUSOLEUM VAULT - NIGHT (CONTINUOUS)
A fight breaks out - Eliza grabs the projector, smashing it into Alistair's face. Sparks fly, and the red laser flickers off.
Juno pulls out a makeshift stun gun. Alistair dodges, but the two women manage to escape down winding passages beneath the mausoleum.
⸻
EXT. EAST EGG - MAUSOLEUM GROUNDS - DAWN
Eliza and Juno burst out into the cold morning air, breathless.
ELIZA
That was too close.
JUNO
They're watching. Always watching.
Eliza clutches the tape reel.
ELIZA
We have to find out what Project Prometheus was.
⸻
INT. RENEE'S OFFICE - DAWN
Renee listens to a voicemail from Alistair.
ALISTAIR (V.O.)
They escaped. But we have the tape.
Renee's eyes narrow.
RENEE
Then the game really begins.
⸻
FINAL SCENE
INT. JULIAN'S PRIVATE STUDY - MORNING
Julian pins a new photo to a wall full of Gatsby-era newspaper clippings. The photo is grainy - a shadowy figure with bright eyes, standing over a 1920s Gatsby party.
He murmurs:
JULIAN
They don't know what I've become.
But soon... they'll all know.
He turns off the lights.
⸻
FADE OUT