Distributed by Focus Features in the United States and Canada.
Directed by Chloé Zhao.
Hamnet has a limited theatrical release in the US on November 26, 2025.
Distributed by Focus Features in the United States and Canada.
Hamnet (2025) Review
Hamnet is a quiet, emotional movie that tells a powerful story about love, loss, and family.
The film follows Agnes and William Shakespeare as they struggle after losing their young son.
Jessie Buckley delivers a strong and heartfelt performance, while Paul Mescal brings depth and sadness to his role.
The movie is slow but very touching, with beautiful visuals and a calm, reflective tone.
It focuses more on feelings than action, which makes the story feel personal and real.
Hamnet is a thoughtful film that stays with you long after it ends.
CR Rating: 8.8/10.
Hamnet Actors
Jessie Buckley as Agnes Shakespeare
DOB: December 28, 1989.
Bio: Irish actress and singer who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).
After early recognition on the BBC talent series I’d Do Anything, she built an acclaimed screen career marked by emotionally fearless performances.
Role: Agnes Shakespeare is the emotional core of Hamnet.
Often referred to historically as Agnes Hathaway, she is portrayed as a woman deeply connected to nature, folklore, and herbal knowledge, with an intuitive bond to her children and husband.
The film centers on Agnes’s interior world as she navigates love, motherhood, superstition, and devastating grief following the death of her son, Hamnet.
Interesting facts: Buckley was cast early in the project and worked closely with director Chloé Zhao to shape Agnes as a tactile, lived-in presence rather than a distant historical figure. Early industry coverage has highlighted Bu
Notable Works: Wild Rose, Beast, The Lost Daughter.
Paul Mescal as William Shakespeare (Will)
DOB: February 2, 1996.
Bio: Irish actor who rose to international prominence with his breakout performance in Normal People, earning an Emmy nomination and widespread critical acclaim.
Since then, he has carefully built a film career focused on intimate, character-driven work, including the Oscar-nominated Aftersun.
Role: Mescal’s William Shakespeare is portrayed not as a literary icon but as a working husband, father, and schoolteacher whose creative life exists alongside ordinary domestic responsibility.
The film centers on his relationship with Agnes and the shared devastation following the death of their son, Hamnet.
Interesting facts: Mescal’s performance earned awards buzz (BAFTA noms, critics’ attention) and he and Jessie Buckley were widely praised as a screen couple.
Notable Works: Normal People, Aftersun, All of Us Strangers, The History of Sound, Gladiator II.
Emily Watson as Mary Shakespeare (Will’s mother)
DOB: January 14, 1967.
Bio: English actress with a distinguished career across film, television, and theatre.
She received Academy Award nominations for Breaking the Waves and Hilary and Jackie and has remained a fixture of prestige cinema and British drama for decades.
Role: Mary Shakespeare is William’s mother, a grounded, traditional woman shaped by faith, superstition, and the social expectations of her time.
In Hamnet, Mary functions as a generational counterpoint to Agnes, reflecting older beliefs about illness, fate, and maternal duty.
Interesting facts: Watson’s performance is marked by restraint rather than sentimentality, using minimal dialogue and controlled physicality to suggest a lifetime of endurance.
Notable Works: Breaking the Waves, Hilary and Jackie, War Horse, The Theory of Everything.
Joe Alwyn as Bartholomew Hathaway (Agnes’ brother)
DOB: February 21, 1991.
Bio: English actor who made his film debut in Ang Lee’s Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk and has since balanced work with major directors and smaller-scale literary adaptations.
Educated at the University of Bristol and trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.
Role: Bartholomew Hathaway is Agnes’s brother and part of her immediate support network beyond the Shakespeare household.
In Hamnet, he represents the practical, familial world Agnes comes from, rooted in land, labor, and communal obligation.
Interesting facts: Alwyn’s restrained performance aligns with the film’s naturalistic ensemble style, favoring lived-in behavior and minimal dialogue.
Notable Works: The Favourite, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, Catherine Called Birdy.
Jacobi Jupe as Hamnet Shakespeare
DOB: July 2013.
Bio: British child actor from an acting family. He is the younger brother of Noah Jupe and the son of actor Katy Cavanagh.
Hamnet marks his first major screen role, positioning him as a notable emerging performer.
Role: Hamnet is the emotional core of the film, the young son of Agnes and William Shakespeare whose illness and death shape the story’s meditation on love, grief, memory, and artistic legacy.
Jacobi’s performance focuses on naturalism rather than melodrama, capturing ordinary childhood moments of curiosity, affection, and fragility.
Interesting facts: Jacobi was cast at a very young age, with the production emphasizing sensitivity, restraint, and authenticity in its depiction of childhood.
Notable Works: Hamnet (breakout role).
Olivia Lynes as Judith Shakespeare (Hamnet’s twin)
DOB: N/A.
Bio: A young British actor whose screen work remains intentionally limited in public documentation due to her age.
Hamnet marks her first notable film role, placing her at the centre of a story that depends on naturalistic, emotionally truthful performances from its youngest cast members.
Role: Judith is Hamnet’s twin sister, and her survival forms a quiet but devastating counterpoint to the illness and loss at the heart of the film.
Through Judith, the story explores childhood resilience, confusion, and the unspoken weight of grief within a family.
Interesting facts: The production emphasized realism and emotional safety when working with its child actors, favoring subtle, lived-in moments over overt dramatization.
Notable Works: Hamnet (breakout child role).
Justine Mitchell as Joan Hathaway (Agnes’ stepmother)
DOB: N/A.
Bio: Irish stage and screen actor with a long career in television, theatre, and independent film.
She is best known for grounded, naturalistic performances in character roles that reflect social hierarchies, domestic tension, and community dynamics.
Role: Joan Hathaway is Agnes’s stepmother, a figure shaped by village norms, inherited customs, and the unspoken rules governing women and family life.
Through Joan, the film explores how community expectations, superstition, and generational attitudes influence Agnes’s position within her own household.
Interesting facts: Mitchell’s long experience in Irish TV and stage gives her a lived credibility in scenes that require social realism and sharp domestic detail.
Notable Works: Your Bad Self, Smother.
David Wilmot as John Shakespeare (Will’s father)
DOB: N/A.
Bio: Irish stage and screen actor with a career spanning several decades.
Trained in theatre and long associated with grounded, working-class characters, he has appeared in major Irish and British films as well as extensive stage productions.
Role: John Shakespeare is William’s father, a tradesman whose identity is shaped by labor, reputation, and the expectations placed on men within a rigid social hierarchy.
In Hamnet, John represents the generational pressures surrounding masculinity, economic survival, and familial duty.
Interesting facts: Wilmot’s understated performance helps ground the film’s intimate grief in a broader context of class and survival.
Notable Works: The Guard, Intermission, Michael Collins, Calvary.
Bodhi Rae Breathnach as Susanna Shakespeare (older daughter)
DOB: N/A.
Bio: A young performer who appears in Hamnet as Susanna Shakespeare, the eldest child in the household.
With limited prior screen credits, her work contributes to the film’s naturalistic, lived-in family dynamic rather than standing out as a showcase performance.
Role: Susanna is William and Agnes’s older daughter, whose everyday presence helps establish the rhythms of family life before tragedy strikes.
Through small, observational moments, the character reinforces the sense of normalcy and continuity that heightens the emotional impact of Hamnet’s illness and death.
Interesting facts: The film cast multiple child actors to create an authentic sibling unit, prioritizing natural behavior over overt dramatization.
Notable Works: Hamnet (breakout child role).
Louisa Harland as Rowan Hathaway (Agnes’ mother)
DOB: January 31, 1993.
Bio: an Irish actress who rose to wide recognition for her breakout role as Orla McCool in Derry Girls.
Since then, she has expanded into stage and screen projects that highlight her range beyond comedy, bringing warmth, emotional openness, and naturalism to ensemble-driven storytelling.
Role: Rowan Hathaway is Agnes’ mother, a formative presence in Agnes’ early life.
Through her relationship with her daughter, the film hints at the domestic roots of Agnes’ independence, intuition, and separation from conventional village expectations.
Interesting facts: Harland’s casting brings a familiar face for modern audiences and helps balance the film’s more mythic elements with wry domestic realism.
Notable Works: Derry Girls, Renegade Nell.
Noah Jupe as the actor who plays Hamlet (the play within the film)
DOB: February 25, 2005.
Bio: Noah Jupe is a British actor who rose to prominence as a child performer in A Quiet Place, Wonder, and The Night Manager.
He has developed into a versatile young actor capable of nuanced emotional work.
Role: Jupe plays the actor portraying Hamlet in the staged play sequences that bookend and reflect the film’s events.
The on-stage Hamlet functions as a mirror to the Shakespeare family’s grief, and Noah’s interactions with Jacobi’s Hamnet heighten the emotional impact.
Interesting facts: Director Zhao reworked a scene to bring the Jupe brothers together on stage, which critics later described as haunting and cathartic.
Notable Works: A Quiet Place, Ford v Ferrari, The Night Manager.
James Skinner as Gilbert Shakespeare (Will’s brother)
DOB: N/A.
Bio: British actor whose credits span stage and screen.
In Hamnet, he appears as Gilbert Shakespeare, one of William’s siblings, contributing to the rich depiction of the extended Shakespeare household and the pressures that shaped William’s early life.
Role: Gilbert provides context for the family dynamics that influence William and Agnes.
His interactions reflect the household’s responses to Agnes, childbirth, superstition, and grief, adding depth and realism to the film’s portrayal of domestic and social pressures.
Interesting facts: Small ensemble roles like Gilbert help paint a specific, historically felt community around the main family.
Notable Works: Various stage/TV credits.
More Actors
• Smylie Bradwell as Young Bartholomew Hathaway.
• Faith Delaney as Young Agnes
• Freya Hannan-Mills as Eliza Shakespeare
• Elliot Baxter as Richard Shakespeare
• Dainton Anderson as Edmond Shakespeare
FAQ – Hamnet (2025) Movie
What is Hamnet about?
Hamnet tells the emotional story of William Shakespeare and his wife Agnes coping with the death of their young son Hamnet in 1596. The film dramatizes their grief, love and family life, and imagines how this loss may have influenced Shakespeare’s writing.
Is Hamnet a true story?
The film is inspired by historical events. Shakespeare did lose his son Hamnet, but most of the family’s personal experiences in the movie are speculative and fictionalized, adapted from Maggie O’Farrell’s novel. More on Cosmopolitan
Where was Hamnet filmed?
Many scenes were shot around Stratford-upon-Avon areas including parts of Herefordshire, which stood in for the period village setting.
Has Hamnet won awards?
Yes. It won Best Motion Picture. Drama at the Golden Globes, and lead performances earned major nominations; it also won TIFF’s People’s Choice Award.
Where to watch Hamnet (2025)?
Right now, Hamnet is only available in theaters following its release in late 2025, so the primary way to watch it is by going to a cinema showing the film.
Conclusion
Hamnet is a tender and emotionally rich film that explores grief in a quiet, human way.
Strong performances, beautiful visuals, and thoughtful storytelling make it a powerful viewing experience.
While its slow pace may not appeal to everyone, the film’s emotional honesty and depth leave a lasting impact.
It is a moving choice for viewers who appreciate reflective, character-driven dramas.