Kate Winslet’s Directorial Debut Is An A-List Netflix Christmas Film

While nostalgic films are typically top of our Christmas watch list (think Love Actually and The Holiday), there is a special place in our hearts for the direct-to-streaming Christmas romcoms of recent years. From Prime Video’s Your Christmas or Mine? (2022) to Apple TV’s Spirited (2024), these are the Hallmark movies of the 21st century – and no one does it better than Netflix.

From the streamer’s earlier attempts A Christmas Prince (2017) and The Princess Switch (2018) to the more recent Linsday Lohan-led Falling For Christmas (2022) and the diabolically bad Hot Frosty (2024), however, in recent years these have become more synonymous with cringe than quality.

Could 2025 be different? This new title fills us with hope. Directed by and starring Kate Winslet along with Helen Mirren, Tony Collette, Johnny Flynn and more, here is everything we know so far about Goodbye June.

Kate Winslet directing on the set of Goodbye June. (© Kimberley French/Netflix)

Goodbye June: Plot, Cast, Release Date & More

Kate Winslet’s directorial debut is almost here, and it is… a Netflix Christmas film? Boasting an Oscar, two Emmys, five BAFTAs and five Golden Globes, it is hardly the direction we expected the Titanic (1997) star to head in. But Goodbye June was written by American-British actor Joe Anders – aka Joe Winslet Mendes, the son of Winslet and ex-husband Sam Mendes. Having previously starred in Mendes’ 1917 (2019) and Winslet’s Lee (2023), at age 21, it is Anders’ very first screenplay.

While Netflix Christmas films are almost unanimously bad, Winslet’s involvement in Goodbye June is giving us hope for a new festive hit. And having previously starred in one of our favourite festive films, The Holiday (2006), it is safe to say Winslet knows a thing or two about the holiday spirit.

On board as director, star and producer, Winslet is joined by Kate Solomon as co-producer, with the duo having worked together on Lee (2023).

Andrea Riseborough, Johnny Flynn, Kate Winslet and Timothy Spall in Goodbye June. (© Netflix)

The Plot

Goodbye June will open in the run up to Christmas, when an unexpected turn in their mother’s health forces four adult siblings back together for the festive season. Joined by their exasperating father, expect messy family dynamics and Christmas chaos, all underpinned by the tension of potential loss on the horizon.

But the mother in question, June, is staunch and quick-witted, orchestrating her decline on her own terms: with biting humour, blunt honesty and her own form of love.

The Cast

Joining Kate Winslet (who we assume will play one of the four siblings) in front of the camera on Goodbye June are Toni Collette, Johnny Flynn and Andrea Riseborough.

Hailing from Australia, you will recognise Collette from the likes of About a Boy (2002), Knives Out (2019) and Mikey 17 (2025), while British actor and musician Flynn is best known for his roles in Lovesick (2014–18), Vanity Fair (2018), Emma (2020) and Ripley (2024). Risborough meanwhile has starred in Brighton Rock (2010), Nocturnal Animals (2016), and the Oscar-nominated To Leslie (2022).

Elsewhere in the cast are British stalwarts Timothy Spall and Helen Mirren, who we assume are the siblings’ father and ill mother respectively. Spall has most recently starred in Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light (2024) and Wicked Little Letters (2023), while Mirren will next be seen in The Thursday Murder Club (2025).

The cast is rounded out by Stephen Merchant, Fisayo Akinade, Jeremy Swift and Raza Jaffrey, though it is not yet clear the roles they will play.

Kate Winslet and Timothy Spall on the set of Goodbye June. (© Kimberley French/Netflix)

Release Date

Goodbye June will launch on Netflix on Christmas Eve. If you would prefer to see it in the cinema, it will play in select UK and US theatres from 12 December 2025.