Sony Pictures has unveiled the four lead actresses who will bring to life the women who shaped the personal worlds of The Beatles in Sam Mendes’ The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event, set to arrive in cinemas globally in April 2028.
Mia McKenna-Bruce, Saoirse Ronan, Anna Sawai, and Aimee Lou Wood will portray Maureen (Cox) Starkey, Linda (Eastman) McCartney, Yoko Ono, and Pattie Boyd – the women whose love stories with Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and George Harrison played out behind the biggest band in history.
This marks the first time Apple Corps Ltd., the company formed by The Beatles in 1968, has authorised a scripted film project that will tell the band’s story with full access to both their music and their life rights. Mendes’ ambitious project will unfold across four separate feature films – one from the perspective of each Beatle – intertwining to tell a unified narrative of creativity, fame, friendship, and fracture.
The films are being produced by Mendes’ Neal Street Productions in association with Apple Corps for Sony Pictures. Mendes will produce alongside Pippa Harris and Julie Pastor from Neal Street, with Alexandra Derbyshire also producing. Sony will finance and distribute the films worldwide, with each title receiving a full theatrical release in April 2028.
Maureen (Cox) Starkey – played by Mia McKenna-Bruce
Maureen was a teenage fan who first met Ringo Starr at Liverpool’s Cavern Club in 1962, long before the world knew The Beatles. They married in 1965 and had three children before separating in 1975. Maureen remained close to the group even after the split, a figure often caught between the chaos of Beatlemania and private domestic life.
BAFTA winner Mia McKenna-Bruce, fresh from her acclaimed performance in How To Have Sex – which premiered at Cannes and won the Un Certain Regard award – brings youthful depth to Maureen’s story. McKenna-Bruce’s breakout role earned her the BAFTA Rising Star Award and a British Independent Film Award for Best Lead Performance.
Linda (Eastman) McCartney – played by Saoirse Ronan
Linda was already an established photographer when she met Paul McCartney in 1967. Their instant connection became one of rock’s enduring love stories, lasting until Linda’s passing in 1998. As McCartney later said, “The first time I saw her, I just knew.”
Saoirse Ronan, a four-time Oscar nominee and Golden Globe winner, is best known for Lady Bird, Little Women, Brooklyn, and Atonement. Her casting brings emotional intelligence and poise to one of music’s most cherished partnerships.
Yoko Ono – played by Anna Sawai
John Lennon met avant-garde artist Yoko Ono at a London art gallery in 1966. The meeting changed music history. Their relationship was not only romantic but also a profound creative collaboration that challenged convention and became one of pop culture’s most scrutinised unions.
Anna Sawai’s portrayal follows her breakout performance in Shōgun, for which she won both Emmy and Golden Globe awards for Best Actress in a Drama. Her artistic presence and composure make her an inspired choice for the complex role of Yoko.
Pattie Boyd – played by Aimee Lou Wood
Anna Sawai, Aimee Lou Wood, Mia McKenna-Bruce, Saoirse Ronan, will portray Yoko Ono, Patti Boyd, Maureen Starkey, Linda McCartney in The Beatles — A Four-Film Cinematic Event.
Model Pattie Boyd met George Harrison during the filming of A Hard Day’s Night in 1964. She became his muse and later inspired some of rock’s greatest songs, including Something and Layla. Boyd’s influence reached beyond The Beatles, shaping the visual and spiritual aesthetic of the late ‘60s as she and Harrison embraced Indian mysticism.
Aimee Lou Wood, a BAFTA TV Award winner for Sex Education and recent Emmy nominee for The White Lotus, will bring warmth and insight to Boyd’s story – a tale of love, transformation, and enduring cultural impact.
The production also stars Harris Dickinson, Barry Keoghan, Paul Mescal, and Joseph Quinn as The Beatles themselves. Casting for other key figures – including Cynthia Lennon, Brian Epstein, George Martin, and Ravi Shankar – will be announced in the coming months.
Mendes, whose previous films include 1917, American Beauty, and Skyfall, conceived the project as a cinematic mosaic, where each Beatle’s perspective offers a unique emotional lens into the phenomenon that defined a generation.
This unprecedented collaboration between Sony Pictures, Neal Street, and Apple Corps signals a landmark moment for Beatles storytelling – one that extends the band’s narrative into the realm of modern epic cinema.
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