The award-winning film Hamnet will open in cinemas nationally on 30 January 2026. The film is a high contender in the current season of awards with several nominations and wins already in the bag. Most recently:
- Golden Globes – 6 nominations, 2 wins.
- Critics Choice Awards – 11 nominations.
- Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards – 3 nominations.
The story of Hamnet
1580 England. Impoverished Latin tutor William Shakespeare 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 theatre 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.
From Focus Features and Academy Award winning filmmaker Chloé Zhao (Nomadland, The Rider) comes a sensitively observed, magnificently crafted tale about the complexities of love and the healing power of art and creativity.
Based on Maggie O’Farrell’s award-winning novel Hamnet and adapted for the screen by Zhao and O’Farrell, the film stars Academy Award-nominee Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter), Academy Award-nominee Paul Mescal (All of Us Strangers), Academy Award-nominee Emily Watson (Hilary and Jackie, Breaking the Waves) and Joe Alwyn (The Brutalist).
Of her experience directing, Chloé Zhao says: “Hamnet came into my life like a whisper that grew into a hurricane. By the end of the journey, I was tenderized. I had truly experienced what it feels like to live with an open heart in the eye of a storm – the beauty, the pain, the thrill at the edge of annihilation and the silence.
The film has been praised for its stunning performances (especially Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal), deep humanity in exploring grief, and powerful, sensory storytelling. Hamnet was mainly filmed in Herefordshire, England, particularly in the village of Weobley, which stood in for Shakespeare’s Stratford-upon-Avon, with key scenes also shot at Cwmmau Farmhouse (Agnes’s home) and in London at The Charterhouse.
What: Hamnet film
Where and when: National cinemas from 30 January 2026
Hamnet: Official Site | X | Instagram
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