From Academy Award® winning writer/director Chloé Zhao, Hamnet tells the powerful story of love and loss that inspired the creation of Shakespeare’s timeless masterpiece, Hamlet
Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter) and Paul Mescal (All of us Strangers) star in the film alongside Emily Watson (Hilary and Jackie, Breaking the Waves) and Joe Alwyn (The Brutalist).
Based on Maggie O'Farrell's award-winning book of the same name, and co-written by Chloé Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell, Hamnet, is set in 1580's England and tells the story of impoverished Latin tutor William Shakespeare who meets free-spirited Agnes, and the pair, captivated by one another, strike up a torrid affair that leads to marriage and three children. Yet as Will pursues a budding theater career in far-away London, Agnes anchors the domestic sphere alone. When tragedy strikes, the couple’s once-unshakable bond is tested, but their shared experience sets the stage for the creation of Shakespeare’s timeless masterpiece, Hamlet.
The film was released in the US in limited theatres Thanksgiving 2025, ahead of a wide USA release on 5 December 2025, and will be in UK and Irish cinemas on 9 January 2026.
Hamnet is a Neal Street co-production with Hera Pictures and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Book of Shadows, for Focus Features.
