Image Credit: Focus Features
The heartbreaking drama that led the recent awards season is officially coming to Netflix. Following its highly successful theatrical run late last year and its initial streaming on Peacock, the cinematic masterpiece directed by Chloé Zhao Hamnett Netflix is headed to the US this summer.
The streamer has now confirmed Hamnett (2025) will be available to stream on Netflix US starting Monday, July 6, 2026.
How the Universal/Focus Features deal works
If you’re wondering why a major Oscar contender is bouncing between streaming services, it all depends on the newly revised Universal streaming deal.
As we reported earlier this year, Universal Pictures’ live-action “first-window” agreement with Netflix actually began a year earlier, with Amazon’s Prime Video being spun off in early 2026. Because Hamnett As a Focus Features (universal) release, it fits perfectly into this attractive licensing pipeline.
Unlike the Sony output deal, where Netflix gets an uninterrupted 18 months, Universal divides its window in a segmented structure, similar to how their animation titles from DreamWorks and Illumination have worked over the past few years. Hamnett It spent its first four months of post-theatrical streaming exclusively on Peacock (arriving there in early March following its home video release). Now, it’s making its scheduled jump to Netflix on July 6, where it will Stay only for a period of 10 months.
After this 10-month run on Netflix (which will end in May 2027), the film will leave the platform and return to Peacock for the final four months of its Pay-1 window.
The Lowdown: What’s ‘Hamnet’ About?
Directed by two-time Academy Award winner chloe zhao Known for nomadic land (which is actually coming to Netflix US on July 1) and rider and co-written with the author maggie o’farrell (based on his award-winning 2020 novel), Hamnett It is a very beautiful historical drama.
The film tells the untold story of Agnes (Jessie Buckley), a free-thinking physician who marries a young, aspiring playwright named William Shakespeare (paul mescal). As William pursues a budding theater career away in London, Agnes anchors the domestic sphere alone in Stratford-upon-Avon.
The core of the film revolves around the tragic death of his 11-year-old son, Hamnet, in 1596. It reveals how this profound loss deeply tests their once unbreakable bond, ultimately serving as the catalyst for the creation of Shakespeare’s most famous and enduring work. small village.
Image Credit: Focus Features
The film was a huge critical success, earning certified fresh ratings and dominating the BAFTA and Oscar conversations, driven by its powerhouse lead performances:
- Jessie Buckley (wicked little letters, lost daughter) as Agnes Hathaway.
- paul mescal (gladiator ii, after noon) as William Shakespeare.
- emily watson As Mary Shakespeare.
- joe alwyn As Bartholomew Hathaway.
- jacoby jupe Hamnet as Shakespeare.
Will you be watching Chloé Zhao’s critically acclaimed drama during its 10-month run on Netflix? Let us know in the comments below!
