The Beatles Biopics Have Their Fab Four: Everything to Know about the Sam Mendes Film Series

Maybe Beatlemania never really died? The Fab Four are getting the biopic treatment—with a film each, directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Sam Mendes (American Beauty). The quartet of movies is a few years away from release, but on March 31, at CinemaCon, the long-rumored cast was finally confirmed: Paul Mescal will play Paul McCartney, Harris Dickinson will take on John Lennon, Joseph Quinn will star as George Harrison, and Barry Keoghan will give his best Ringo Starr.

All four actors came out on stage for the announcement, where they did the Beatles’ signature synchronized bow. The official logline for the project reads: “Each man has his own story, but together they are legendary.”

“I’m honored to be telling the story of the greatest rock band of all time, and excited to challenge the notion of what constitutes a trip to the movies,” Mendes, who also directed 1917, and the James Bond film Skyfall, said in a statement.

“There had to be a way to tell the epic story for a new generation,” Mendes added on stage at CinemaCon. “I can assure you there is still plenty left to explore, and I think we found a way to do that.” (The Beatles and their estates are directly involved in the project, granting full life and music rights for the films.)

The success of A Complete Unknown, which paired Gen Z king Timothée Chalamet with Boomer icon Bob Dylan, is a positive omen for Mendes’s ambitions. Recent projects like Wicked and the Renaissance and Eras tour films have also proved that audiences like theater experiences they can sing along to.

Here’s everything to know about the upcoming Beatles biopics:

What do we know about the cast?

Speculative casting rumors have been floating around since the project was first announced last year, and none of the confirmed stars are a huge surprise.

Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney

Irish actor Mescal’s star has risen meteorically since breaking onto the scene and becoming the internet’s favorite new heartthrob with 2020’s Normal People. Since then, he’s been leaning toward meatier, under-the-radar projects like Aftersun and God’s Creatures, with the exception of Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II.

Harris Dickinson as John Lennon

Triangle of Sadness star Dickinson will play Lennon. The British actor showed off his smoldering side in erotic thriller Babygirl alongside Nicole Kidman last winter. Lennon, of course, was shot and killed in 1980 in New York City. He was survived by Yoko Ono and his two sons, Julian and Sean.

Joseph Quinn as George Harrison

South London-born Quinn was also in Gladiator II along with Mescal, and rose to fame as the troubled but charismatic Eddie Munson on the fourth season of Stranger Things. Harrison died from lung cancer at age 58 in 2001.

Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr

Starr himself accidentally let it slip that Keoghan would be playing him, recently telling Entertainment Tonight of the rumor, “Well, I think it’s great. I think he’s somewhere taking drum lessons, and I hope not too many.” The Dublin-raised Saltburn star had his screen breakout in 2017 with Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk and Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Killing of a Sacred Deer, and was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Oscar for his role in Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin.

Has there been a Beatles biopic before?

The Beatles famously made their own movies together (1964’s A Hard Day’s Night, 1965’s Help!, 1967’s Magical Mystery Tour, and 1968’s Yellow Submarine)—and have been the subject of numerous documentaries, like Peter Jackson’s recent streaming hit Get Back and 1970’s Let It Be, which chronicled the group’s breakup (real fans will also recall 2007’s divisive Evan Rachel Wood-starring jukebox musical Across the Universe). This is the first time, however, that the band members and their respective estates and families have granted both full life rights and use of The Beatles’ musical catalog for the film (for a long time, they weren’t even on iTunes).

When will the biopics be released?

The four films will hit theaters in April 2028, with Sony saying the release strategy will be “innovative and groundbreaking.” Mendes said the four-film project, officially titled The Beatles: A Four-Film Cinematic Event, will be the “first binge-able theatrical experience.” What this means for a release schedule—all at once? one per week?—remains unclear.