Jessie Buckley & Paul Mescal in Chloe Zhao’s ‘Hamnet’ Teaser Trailer
by Alex Billington
August 26, 2025
Source: YouTube
“What do you see?” “He will live…” Focus Features has unveiled the teaser trailer for the film Hamnet, a highly anticipated new film coming up this awards season. Hamnet is the latest feature directed by Oscar-winner Chloé Zhao, following her work on Marvel’s Eternals, this is her getting back to making something more meaningful and intimate. Hamnet tells the powerful story of love and loss that inspired the creation of Shakespeare’s timeless masterpiece, Hamlet. Jessie Buckley stars as Agnes Shakespeare, Paul Mescal as William Shakespeare set in the 16th century. It’s telling the story of Agnes – the wife of William Shakespeare – as she struggles to come to terms with the loss of her only son, Hamnet. A human and heart-stopping story as the backdrop to the creation of Shakespeare’s most famous play, Hamlet. TIFF describes it as a look at how The Bard was not a cold genius, he was “a real man whose literary prowess was irrevocably impacted by his domestic life.” The cast includes Joe Alwyn, Emily Watson, Jacobi Jupe, Jack Shalloo, David Wilmot. With a gorgeous new score by Max Richter which can be heard briefly in this teaser. This looks stunning! It’s going to be a very emotional story that will break us all down into tears. A must watch trailer.
Here’s the first teaser trailer for Chloé Zhao’s new film Hamnet, direct from Focus Features’ YouTube:
Intro via TIFF: “In William Shakespeare’s day, the names Hamlet & Hamnet were interchangeable. The newest film by Chloé Zhao uses that context as the basis for a tender exploration of Shakespeare’s domestic life, connecting a family tragedy to one of his most famous works. Maybe we can better understand Hamlet, Zhao suggests, if we consider that it was developed while the most famous writer in the Western canon was mourning the death of his 11-year-old son, Hamnet. Based on the novel by Maggie O’Farrell, Hamnet’s main character isn’t The Bard — played here by an impressive Paul Mescal — or even the child who gives the film its name. Hamnet belongs to Agnes – Shakespeare’s thoughtful wife, played by an enthralling Jessie Buckley, who bathes the film in her warmth. Many historical accounts preface reports of Hamnet’s death with statistics about how common child mortality was in the 16th century, as though it barely made an impact. Hamnet rejects that premise, showing Shakespeare not as a distant, untouchable genius but as a real man whose literary prowess was irrevocably impacted by his domestic [family] life.“
Hamnet is directed by the Oscar-winning Chinese filmmaker Chloé Zhao, director of the films Songs My Brothers Taught Me, The Rider, Nomadland, and Marvel’s Eternals previously. The screenplay is written by Maggie O’Farrell and Chloe Zhao; adapted from Maggie O’Farrell’s book also titled “Hamnet”. Produced by Liza Marshall, Pippa Harris, Nicolas Gonda, Sam Mendes, Steven Spielberg. This is premiering at the 2025 Telluride & Toronto Film Festivals this fall. Focus Features will then debut Chloe Zhao’s Hamnet film in select US theaters starting November 27th, 2025, on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, later this year before a wide expansion in more theaters in December. Stay tuned for updates. Looking good? Who wants to watch?
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