Focus Features officially dropped the teaser trailer for Chloé Zhao’s highly anticipated Hamnet. The teaser highlights the emotional journey of William Shakespeare and his wife, Agnes, as they venture upon the untold love story that inspired Shakespeare’s masterpiece, Hamlet. Oscar-nominees Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley play the love interests.

Both actors are familiar with emotionally intense dramas led by women. Mescal for his role in Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun and Buckley for her performances in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Lost Daughter and Sarah Polley’s Women Talking.

New York Times bestselling author Maggie O’Farrell penned the upcoming adaptation with Zhao. Described as “a beautifully written and intensely moving novel about grief and loss,” the story follows the couple as they mourn the loss of their 11-year-old son. Mescal, Buckley, and O’Farrell are all Irish.

For Zhao, Hamnet follows her 2021 Marvel film, Eternals. In 2021, she won the Academy Award for best director for the indie film Nomadland, starring Frances McDormand.

Steven Spielberg and Sam Mendes are named in the trailer as producers. The cast also includes Joe Alwyn (The Brutalist) and Emily Watson (Small Things Like These).

The film premieres at TIFF next month. It has an official limited theatrical release date of November 27, 2025, and a wide release of December 12.