Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet Is Coming To The Big Screen, Starring Paul Mescal & Jessie Buckley

Paul Mescal is the man of the moment, thanks to his BAFTA nominated role in All Of Us Strangers, and his upcoming leading part in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator 2. And his relevance is going nowhere. Next up is an incredibly storied role indeed: Mescal will be playing the bard himself, William Shakespeare, in the film adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s beloved novel, Hamnet. Here’s everything we know so far.

A Film Adaptation Of Hamnet Is Coming

Maggie O’Farrell is a highly acclaimed novelist, but her 2020 novel Hamnet especially struck a chord. Bagging the Women’s Prize for Fiction for 2020 plus the 2020 National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction, Hamnet tells the tale of William Shakespeare’s oft forgotten son of the same name, and it was adapted for the stage by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) and Lolita Chakrabarti. The play debuted at Stratford-upon-Avon’s Swan Theatre in April 2023 before being transferred to the Garrick Theatre in London in September of the same year.

‘I think [Chakrabarti’s] done an amazing job,’ O’Farrell told C&TH last year. ‘It was an extraordinary phone call to get, certainly. I remember my agent calling me up and saying, “The Royal Shakespeare Company have been in touch and are thinking of making a play of Hamnet”. And we had this conversation back and forth about what it meant and what it would be like, and at the end of the conversation there was a long pause and she said, “So, do you want to say yes?”. And I said, “Oh, sorry, yes! Did I not say? Definitely! Yes please!”.’

From the stage to the screen: a film adaptation of Hamnet is coming, directed by Chloé Zhao, who is collaborating with O’Farrell on the screenplay.

What Is Hamnet About?

Hamnet tells the story of William Shakespeare’s loss of his son Hamnet, who died of the plague when he was 11 years old, the trauma of which is thought to have inspired the writing of his famed play, Hamlet. As the RSC summarises for the play:

Warwickshire, 1582. Agnes Hathaway, a natural healer, meets the Latin tutor, William Shakespeare. Drawn together by powerful but hidden impulses, they create a life together and make a family.

When the plague steals 11-year-old Hamnet from his loving parents, they must each confront their loss alone. And yet, out of the greatest suffering, something of extraordinary wonder is born.

Of course, before it was a play, Hamnet was a best-selling book. ‘That book – it’s just devastating,’ Mescal told Vogue on the news of his casting. ‘I can’t wait. If I told a younger version of myself that this would be [shooting] this year, I wouldn’t believe it.’

Ajani Cabey (Hamnet) and Alex Jarrett (Judith) in the stage version of Hamnet. © Manuel Harlan

Who Will Star?

Opposite Paul Mescal as William Shakespeare will be Jessie Buckley as his wife, Agnes Hathaway. That’s all we know so far on the cast front.

‘I’ve obviously been in a film with Jessie before [Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Lost Daughter] but we’ve never shared the screen or a working process together,’ Mescal also told Vogue. ‘I think she’s one of our present-day greats. And Chloé [Zhao, the director] is somebody I can’t wait to get in the weeds with, and get into the heads of those characters.’

Release Date

No release date just yet, but Hamnet will be filmed in 2024, so we anticipate it won’t arrive in cinemas until at least 2025.

WATCH

Can’t wait for the film? Hamnet is running at the Garrick Theatre until 17 February 2024, with tickets starting from £30. rsc.org.uk