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The highly anticipated Oscar frontrunner, Hamnet, has now landed on Peacock, available for free to Peacock Premium subscribers. This has opened the door for a wider audience to experience this poignant period drama.
Directed by the acclaimed Chloé Zhao, who earned an Oscar for her work on Nomadland, Hamnet is based on Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel. Zhao co-wrote the screenplay with O’Farrell. The film stars Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal as Agnes and William Shakespeare, portraying their emotional journey following the death of their 11-year-old son, Hamnet, played by Jacobi Jupe. The tragedy ultimately inspires Shakespeare to pen one of his most famous masterpieces, Hamlet.
With a stellar cast that includes Emily Watson, Bodhi Rae Breathnach, and Joe Alwyn, Hamnet has garnered critical acclaim and become a strong contender during awards season. It has already clinched the Best Picture – Drama and Best Actress – Drama awards at the Golden Globes and received eight nominations for the Academy Awards, including nods for Best Picture, Best Director for Zhao, and Best Actress for Buckley. As audiences gear up for the 2026 Oscars, some viewers might find themselves puzzled by the film’s complex narrative. Fear not, as Decider offers an insightful breakdown of Hamnet‘s plot and its poignant conclusion.
Hamnet movie plot summary:
The film introduces a young William Shakespeare, portrayed by Paul Mescal, who is working as a tutor to help his family settle their debts. During his work, he encounters a captivating woman, played by Jessie Buckley, and follows her. She introduces herself as Agnes, and the two quickly form a profound connection. Agnes hints at seeing a significant future for William, despite warnings from his family that she is involved in witchcraft, which is seen as undesirable at the time.
Undeterred by his family’s skepticism, William and Agnes fall deeply in love. William shares with Agnes the myth of Orpheus, who lost his beloved because of his lack of trust. Their relationship flourishes, leading to Agnes becoming pregnant and the couple marrying. When Agnes goes into labor, she retreats to the woods to deliver their healthy daughter, Susanna, away from the prying eyes of society.
While Agnes is happy with their small, domestic life in the country, she senses that William is unhappy, abusing alcohol and growing frustrated with his writing. Through her brother Bartholomew (Joe Alwyn), Agnes suggests that William move to London where he can spread his wings. Agnes, who is pregnant again, says she will stay behind in the country, and join him later.
So, William goes, and Agnes stays behind with William’s family. When it comes time to give birth, Agnes tries to sneak out to the forest, but is prevented from leaving by William’s siblings, even when Agnes begs. Agnes gives births to fraternal twins, a boy and a girl. At first, the girl appears to be a stillborn, but eventually awakens in Agnes’s arms. She names the girl Judith, and the boy, Hamnet.
We jump ahead 11 years. William now runs a successful theater company in London. Agnes still has not moved out to join him there, but William returns often to visit his family. Hamnet (Jacobi Jupe) and Judith (Olivia Lynes) are very close, and like to pretend to be each other as a game. Agnes still worries about Judith’s health, but doesn’t worry as much about Hamnet, who she predicts will one day join his father at the Globe Theater.
When Agnes’s pet hawk dies, the family buries it, and Agnes tells her children to whistle and send the hawk a wish up into the sky. She tells them if they do that, they can see the hawk in the sky with their wishes.
Judith comes down with a bad case of the bubonic plague, likely through germs from London brought home by her father. One night, when she is near death, Hamnet lies down next to her and makes a wish to trade places with her; to trick Death into taking him instead of his sister. The next morning, Agnes finds Judith feeling much better, but Hamnet gravely ill. Agnes uses all the remedies she can think of to save her son, but he succumbs to the illness and dies.
Hamnet’s death is represent by a scene where he finds himself on the stage of the Globe theater, alone. Remembering what his mother taught him, he whistles a wish up into the sky, where he sees the hawk flying—which could represent Hamnet seeing the other side of the veil, so to speak, since the hawk is dead.
When William returns home, a grieving, angry Agnes blames him for not being there to save their son, or, at the very least, to say goodbye to him. William asks Agnes to tell him what she sees when she holds his hand, and she tells him she sees nothing. She tells William to go back to London, that the family doesn’t need him here, and he does.
William stays in London for months and writes his new tragedy, Hamlet. He is grieving and distraught, and comes with his famed “To be or not to be” speech while standing on the edge of the Thames, considering suicide. Back in the country, Agnes receives a flyer for Hamlet from her stepmother. She travels with her brother to London to see what William has to say about her dead son.
At first, Agnes is confused as to what anything in Hamlet has to do with Hamnet. Then she grows angry, shouting at the actors to stop saying her son’s name. However, when the actor who plays Hamlet steps onto stage, she is enraptured by seeing a representation of her son, alive. William also appears in the play as an actor. covered in plaster, playing the ghost of Hamlet’s dead father. Agnes begins to realizes this is William’s way of trying to swap places with Hamnet, and his way of saying goodbye to his son, since he wasn’t there to do it in person.
Hamnet movie ending explained:
After an emotional scene where the ghost of Hamlet’s father says goodbye to Hamlet, William begins to exit the stage, and Agnes asks him to look back. He does, and they are finally able to reconnect, after months of disconnect. This mirrors the myth of Orpheus.
An emotional Agnes watches the rest of the play from the front row. At the end of the play, when Hamlet dies, Agnes reaches out to hold his hand. The actor is surprised, but takes Agnes’s hand. She holds it the same way she held William’s hand when they first met.
Seeing this connection, the rest of the audiences reaches out toward Hamlet. It’s a beautiful moment where all of these people, who never knew the real Hamnet, feel connected to this character inspired by him. They feel as connected to him as if he were real.
Looking around at all of the people who are crying tears over the death of Hamlet, Agnes realizes that William has found a way to both revive their son and share their grief with the world. William, watching Agnes from backstage, sees her realize this. They share a smile and a looking of understanding. As the Hamlet actor exits the stage, Agnes imagines she sees her real son smiling at her, and then walking away. In the final shot of the film, Agnes smiles, and then laughs. She will always grieve Hamnet, but she finds joy in the beauty of sharing this emotion, and keeping him alive, in a way, through this art.
Hamnet and the Orpheus myth explained:
At the end of Hamnet, Zhao deliberately upends the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. In the myth, it’s a tragedy that Orpheus looks back at Eurydice, but in Hamnet, it’s a great relief when William looks back at Agnes. The key difference is, Agnes asked William to look back. In the myth, Orpheus looks back because he doubts his love will be beside him. In this version, William looks back because Agnes is telling him she is beside him. In this way, Zhao gives some agency back to the women in the story, who reassures her lover that she is still there.
Or at least, that’s my interpretation of the movie. If you have a different take, let me know in the comments!