Assassin's Creed: Eternal
Genre: Action/Sci-Fi/Historical
Director: Edward Berger
Writer: Roy Horne
Based on the video game series
Cast: Jacob Elordi, Emma Mackey, Rufus Sewell, Marton Csokas, Lucy Fry, Dominic Cooper, Barry Sloane, Gemma Arterton
Plot: Desmond Miles (Jacob Elordi) finishes his late shift at a New York City dive bar and heads out back to take out the trash. A van pulls up quietly. Two men move fast. Desmond realizes too late what’s happening and fights back on instinct, but he’s outnumbered. A stun strike drops him hard.
Desmond wakes restrained, being wheeled through a facility he doesn’t recognize. Warren Vidic (Rufus Sewell) walks beside him, speaking calmly, already framing Desmond’s situation as inevitable. Desmond demands answers. Vidic gives none that matter. Layla Hassan (Lucy Fry) runs medical scans under the sharp supervision of Melanie Lemay (Gemma Arterton). Daniel Cross (Dominic Cooper) watches from the side, studying Desmond.
Desmond is brought into the Animus chamber and meets Lucy Stillman (Emma Mackey) for the first time. When they lock eyes, both feel a jolt of recognition neither can explain. It briefly rattles Lucy before she forces herself back into professional focus. Desmond pleads with her to tell him what's going on, but Melanie interrupts and tells Lucy to hurry up. Desmond is strapped into the Animus.
Vidic explains that Desmond's genetic memories are valuable, and his cooperation will make things easier for him. Desmond points out that they have kidnapped him. Vidic says it was a necessity. Layla suggests lowering synchronization levels due to neural strain. Melanie shuts her down immediately. Lucy catches Desmond’s eye and signals him to stay calm.
The Animus activates. Desmond's body locks up. Disjointed images flash - movement, rooftops, a body in motion. Lucy monitors Desmond's vitals. Vidic watches the synchronization climb with satisfaction. Desmond’s vision sharpens, his breathing steadies, and the memory takes hold.
Desmond opens his eyes - and he is no longer Desmond Miles.
Florence, Italy - 1496
Ezio Auditore (Jacob Elordi) runs through the streets of Florence after a brawl. Guards shout behind him. He moves with instinctive agility, climbing, leaping, never thinking about consequences. Ezio pauses on a rooftop when he spots Christina Vespucci (Emma Mackey) below. Their eyes meet.Inside the Animus, Desmond’s heart rate spikes.
Ezio returns home to find his sister Claudia (Lucy Fry) waiting, frustrated by his recklessness. Mario Auditore (Marton Csokas), Ezio’s uncle, arrives unexpectedly and pulls Ezio aside. He warns that Florence is changing and that the Pazzi family is growing bolder. Ezio shrugs it off, uninterested in politics.
In a crowded market, Ezio witnesses Marco de Pazzi (Rufus Sewell) publicly humiliating a Medici supporter under the protection of armed guards. Ezio bristles and nearly intervenes before a stranger quietly stops him. The stranger is La Volpe (Barry Sloane), who warns Ezio that Florence’s real battles aren’t fought openly but in the shadows.
Ezio returns home to chaos. Guards flood the Auditore residence, tearing through documents and dragging family members away. Claudia pleads with them as Ezio is shoved aside, powerless. He hears accusations of treason but no explanations. Ezio is forced into the street as his father and brothers are taken in chains.
The memory jumps forward abruptly. Ezio pushes through a crowd gathered around a scaffold. By the time he reaches the front, it’s over. His father and brothers hang lifeless before the city. Ezio lunges toward Marco de Pazzi, but guards restrain him. Mario pulls Ezio away. Desmond’s vitals spike dangerously.
Ezio flees Florence with Mario, who keeps them moving, refusing to explain until they’re safely away. Inside the Animus, Desmond steadies as the pace becomes purposeful. Lucy watches the sync stabilize, surprised by how quickly Desmond adapts once survival replaces panic.
Mario brings Ezio to Monteriggioni and finally tells him the truth: his father Giovanni wasn’t just a banker, and the Auditore family has been part of a larger fight for generations. Ezio rejects it at first, unwilling to believe his father lived a double life. Mario brings Ezio into a hidden room beneath the villa. He opens a chest Giovanni kept sealed. Inside are three things: a damaged hidden blade bracer, a bundle of coded pages filled with strange diagrams, and a simple, unfinished Assassin’s mantle folded carefully beneath them. Ezio takes the blade, feeling its weight.
Ezio brings the bracer and pages to Leonardo da Vinci (Dominic Cooper), who immediately recognizes the craftsmanship and the code beneath the writing. Leonardo repairs the blade’s mechanism, restoring it to working order. Leonardo begins decoding the pages, revealing fragments of a hidden war beneath recorded history.
Ezio seeks out Paola (Gemma Arterton), who once sheltered Giovanni. She tests him without ceremony, forcing him to move unseen, to listen, to wait. Ezio struggles to slow down, still burning with rage. Paola makes it clear that strength without control will only get him killed. Desmond absorbs the lesson alongside Ezio.
Ezio returns to Florence and tracks one of the men connected to the Pazzi conspiracy. The confrontation is swift and deliberate. Ezio uses the hidden blade for the first time, ending the man’s life without hesitation. Inside the Animus, Desmond feels the moment land hard. This isn’t revenge. It’s commitment. Lucy watches the shift with concern. Vidic, monitoring remotely, is quietly pleased. The Animus glitches as Desmond absorbs too much. Outside the machine, his hand tightens involuntarily, mimicking the blade’s motion. Lucy ends the session before Vidic can intervene.
Desmond wakes up, disoriented. Vidic enters and notes the successful synchronization. He treats Desmond less like a captive now and more like a resource that’s finally paying off. Otso Berg (Barry Sloane) arrives as head of on-site security - having been called in by Melanie now that Desmond is learning. Cross corners Desmond privately, warning him not to mistake Lucy’s kindness for safety.
Despite Lucy’s objections, Vidic orders Desmond back into the Animus. This time, the target isn’t Florence. Desmond is told only that another ancestor is relevant to the search. Melanie has Layla take Lucy's place running the Animus. Lucy stays close by though, eyes locked on Desmond. The Animus doesn’t return Desmond to Italy. Instead, the memory fractures and reforms. Berg steps closer to the glass, intrigued, as the new timeline stabilizes.
London, England 1868
Desmond comes to inside another body - Jacob Frye (Jacob Elordi). He barrels through a crowded street, chasing a gang lieutenant. In the Animus room, Lucy sees Desmond’s vitals spike in a new pattern. Layla notes the faster sync and flags behavioral variance.
Jacob ducks into an alley to escape police attention and nearly collides with Evie Frye (Lucy Fry). She warns him that he's drawing too much notice and risking the Brotherhood's work. Jacob brushes it off.
Jacob meets Pearl Attaway (Emma Mackey) while disrupting a Blighter operation tied to factory labor abuses. Pearl assures Jacob that the Blighters are run by Templars. She helps him escape after the attack. Henry Green (Marton Csokas) briefs Jacob on the larger problem: London’s industry is being consolidated under Maxwell Roth (Rufus Sewell), a Templar. Frederick Abberline appears, offering cooperation as long as bodies don't pile up too high.
Jacob crosses paths with Roth for the first time. Sensing the violence in Jacob's nature, Roth Jacob deeper into London’s underworld. Jacob strikes Blighter operations. Evie urges him to restrain from unnecessary violence, warning that Roth is baiting him into chaos. Jacob dismisses her concerns.
Pearl helps Jacob move through factory districts. She expresses belief in his goal to hurt the Templars, but worries that he's going to die doing so. In the present, Melanie flags Desmond’s emotional spikes as evidence of “productive immersion.” Lucy pushes back, arguing the strain is compounding too quickly. Vidic sides with Melanie.
Jacob’s next strike succeeds, but innocent workers are injured in the fallout. Evie confronts him, furious that he ignored her warnings. Jacob defends himself, insisting sacrifices are inevitable. The argument rattles Desmond. Outside the Animus, he shifts violently.
Henry Green nearly dies during a Blighter retaliation. The cost hits Evie hard and finally gives Jacob pause. Pearl challenges him directly, forcing him to see the damage left in his wake. Lucy ends the session early, overriding Vidic’s protests. Desmond wakes shaken. Berg watches him closely, knowing Desmond is becoming more dangerous the more time he spends in his ancestors' memories.
Thrown back into the Animus, Desmond finds himself back in the memories of Ezio. He moves through Florence unseen. He studies the guards from a distance. La Volpe and Paola feed Ezio intelligence gathered from across the city about the plans of Pazzi.
Ezio meets Leonardo briefly, who provides a final refinement to Ezio’s blade and deciphers another fragment of Giovanni’s notes. The pages hint at ancient artifacts influencing human history, though their nature remains unclear. Leonardo warns Ezio that knowledge always carries cost.
Ezio confronts Marco de Pazzi away from crowds, denying Pazzi spectacle or martyrdom. Ezio kills Marco quickly and without feeling. Florence stabilizes under Medici rule, and Ezio fades into the background. Lucy convinces Layla to end the session.
Back in the streets of Victorian London, Jacob and Evie move through the streets quickly to meet Pearl and Henry. Pearl feeds them information that will expose Roth's corruption across factories and transport lines. Jacob confronts Roth with the evidence. Roth frames Jacob's actions as evidence that he should join the Templars and embrace chaos. Jacob refuses the invitation and attacks Roth. Jacob stabs Roth in the neck, leaving him bleeding out. Pearl and Jacob share a quiet moment.
Desmond wakes from the Animus feeling changed. Lucy notices the difference immediately. She runs him through some routine tests, and Desmond responds with heightened agility and responsiveness. Vidic enters with Melanie and Cross. Vidic confirms what they’ve been waiting for: Desmond can now access Assassin abilities without the Animus. Melanie orders Desmond transferred to a more secure location for the next phase of testing. Berg arrives to escort him personally. Lucy protests, but Vidic orders her to silence. Lucy gives Layla a look, which is responded to with a subtle nod. As Berg moves Desmond through the corridor, the lights flicker. Doors unlock unexpectedly. Layla has overridden the system just long enough. Lucy acts immediately, knocking out a guard and pulling Desmond free. Cross notices the breach too late. He hesitates, watching Lucy choose a side. Berg gives chase.
Desmond runs with Lucy keeping pace as best as she can. Berg nearly catches them, forcing Desmond to disarm him with fighting skills he didn't know he had. They reach a hidden exit. Layla seals it behind them and stays back, buying time. Lucy finally tells Desmond the truth: his ancestors weren’t just witnesses to history - they were shaping it. And Abstergo is searching for something ancient that Desmond can lead them to. As they disappear into the night, Berg watches from the corridor, bloodied.
Post-Credits: Warren Vidic stands before a dormant ancient structure sealed behind glass as Melanie Lemay joins him and notes that Desmond Miles has escaped and the operation will be deemed a failure. Vidic remains unconcerned, making it clear that the experiment was never about keeping Miles contained but about confirming that his bloodline could still respond to something buried in history.
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