Paul Mescal is considering taking a break and "rationing" his career over the next couple of years – once he's finished promoting his new Oscar-favorite movie Hamnet, of course.
"Once I've finished promoting [Hamnet], I hope nobody gets to see me until 2028 when I'm doing the Beatles," he told The Guardian. "People will get a break from me and I'll get a break from them."
Mescal plays William Shakespeare in Eternals director Chloé Zhao's new movie, which follows the death of Shakespeare's young son and the events that inspired his tragedy Hamlet. Jessie Buckley plays his wife, Agnes.
"I’m five or six years into this now, and I feel very lucky. But I'm also learning that I don't think I can go on doing it as much," Mescal added. "It means learning that films like [new period romance, co-starring Josh O'Connor] The History of Sound take more out of the well. You can't keep going back and expect to consistently deliver something you're proud of. What that rationing looks like, I don't know. I miss being on stage, so I might have a time when I'm only doing theatre for a couple of years."
In Sam Mendes' upcoming Beatles quartet of movies, Mescal is set to play Paul McCartney. All four movies will be released on the same date in 2028, with each one focusing on a different member of the band. Harris Dickinson, Joseph Quinn, and Barry Keoghan will play John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, with the cast also including Saoirse Ronan as McCartney's first wife and Wings bandmate Linda and James Norton as the band's manager Brian Epstein.
Hamnet is out now in US theaters and arrives in UK cinemas on January 9. For more on what to watch, check out our guide to the other best upcoming movies on the way in 2026.
