Hamnet is a 2025 British historical drama film with a cast led by Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal.

Main Hamnet cast

  • Jessie Buckley as Agnes Shakespeare (Anne/Agnes Hathaway), William Shakespeare’s wife.
  • Paul Mescal as William Shakespeare , struggling with grief and creative ambition.
  • Jacobi Jupe as Hamnet Shakespeare , the couple’s 11‑year‑old son whose death shapes the story.
  • Olivia Lynes as Judith Shakespeare , Hamnet’s twin sister.
  • Bodhi Rae Breathnach as Susanna Shakespeare , the eldest Shakespeare child.

Key supporting roles

  • Emily Watson as Mary Shakespeare , William’s mother.
  • David Wilmot as John Shakespeare , William’s father.
  • Joe Alwyn as Bartholomew Hathaway , Agnes’s brother.
  • Freya Hannan-Mills as Eliza Shakespeare.
  • Dainton Anderson as Edmund Shakespeare.
  • Elliot Baxter as Richard Shakespeare.

Hamlet-play-related roles inside Hamnet

Within the film’s framing around Shakespeare’s art, there are actors portraying figures from his later play Hamlet.

Character (in-play) Actor
Hamlet Noah Jupe
Ophelia El Simons
Roawn Louisa Harland
Marcellus Jack Shalloo
Bernardo Sam Woolf
Francisco Hera Gibson
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Quick Scoop & context

  • The film is directed by Chloé Zhao and co-written with novelist Maggie O’Farrell , adapting O’Farrell’s bestselling novel Hamnet.
  • It focuses less on Shakespeare’s fame and more on family grief, marriage, and how tragedy feeds his later work , which has made the cast choices a big talking point in 2025–2026 film discussions.

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