Hamnet

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Hamnet

film by Zhao [2025]

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July 23, 2026

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Hamnet — Hamnet Jessie Buckley as Agnes (center) in Hamnet (2025), directed by Chloé Zhao and based on Maggie O'Farrell's 2020 novel.

Hamnet is a 2025 film directed by Chloë Zhao, based on Maggie O'Farrell's novel. The film explores the hypothesis that William Shakespeare wrote his famous play Hamlet as a response to the grief he experienced after the death of his 11-year-old son, Hamnet, from the bubonic plague.12

The film stars Paul Mescal as Shakespeare and Jessie Buckley as his wife, Agnes (a variation of Anne Hathaway's name). While the similarity in names between Hamnet and Hamlet is noted, and Hamnet's death in 1596 predates the writing of Hamlet (1599-1601), the film is largely speculative. O'Farrell herself admits much of the novel is "idle speculation".134

Hamnet has received critical acclaim for Zhao's direction and the performances, earning multiple Academy Award nominations and wins. However, it is presented as a fictionalized account rather than a strict historical document.13

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Jessie Buckley
Worldwide fame
…in the Chloé Zhao-directed film Hamnet, playing Agnes, the wife of William Shakespeare (played by Paul Mescal). The story follows the couple’s courtship, family life, and grief over the death of their 11-year-old son, Hamnet. (Learn more in The Rest Is Speculation: Hamnet and the Question of Historical Accuracy.) Adapted…
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…in the Chloé Zhao-directed film Hamnet, playing Agnes, the wife of William Shakespeare (played by Paul Mescal). The story follows the couple’s courtship, family life, and grief over the death of their 11-year-old son, Hamnet. (Learn more in The Rest Is Speculation: Hamnet and the Question of Historical Accuracy.) Adapted…
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Chloé Zhao
Eternals and Hamnet
Four years later she directed Hamnet, based on the novel by Maggie O’Farrell; the two also collaborated on the screenplay. The film tells the fictionalized love story of playwright William Shakespeare (played by Paul Mescal) and his wife, Anne (Agnes) Hathaway (Jessie Buckley), and how the death of their only…
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Four years later she directed Hamnet, based on the novel by Maggie O’Farrell; the two also collaborated on the screenplay. The film tells the fictionalized love story of playwright William Shakespeare (played by Paul Mescal) and his wife, Anne (Agnes) Hathaway (Jessie Buckley), and how the death of their only…
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Anne Hathaway
In a film adaptation of Hamnet, released in November 2025, Agnes is portrayed by actress Jessie Buckley. The Hathaway family home is owned and run as a museum by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
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In a film adaptation of Hamnet, released in November 2025, Agnes is portrayed by actress Jessie Buckley. The Hathaway family home is owned and run as a museum by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
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The Rest Is Speculation
Hamnet and the Question of Historical Accuracy
>Hamnet, director Chloé Zhao’s acclaimed 2025 film adaptation of author Maggie O’Farrell’s celebrated 2020 novel of the same name, is simple: William Shakespeare wrote the play Hamlet as a way to cope with his overwhelming grief in the wake of the death of his 11-year-old
Read More
>Hamnet, director Chloé Zhao’s acclaimed 2025 film adaptation of author Maggie O’Farrell’s celebrated 2020 novel of the same name, is simple: William Shakespeare wrote the play Hamlet as a way to cope with his overwhelming grief in the wake of the death of his 11-year-old
Read More