New cast members for the upcoming Beatles biopic film series have been announced.
Morfydd Clark, Lucy Boynton, Harry Lawtey, Farhan Akhtar and Anna Sawai will join The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event, a series based on the Liverpool band, directed by Sir Sam Mendes.
The five join Normal People star Paul Mescal, who plays McCartney and fellow Irish actor Barry Keoghan who will portray drummer Ringo Starr.
Babygirl actor Harris Dickinson will play John Lennon, and Mescal’s Gladiator II co-star Joseph Quinn has been cast as George Harrison.
The new cast members will play Cynthia Lennon, John Lennon’s first wife, composer Ravi Shankar, Paul McCartney’s ex-girlfriend Jane Asher and Stuart Sutcliffe, the original Beatles’ bass player Stuart Sutcliffe.
Sawai, known for her role in Shōgun, was most recently announced to play Lennon’s second wife, Yoko Ono.
What are the stories behind the additional characters?
Cynthia Lennon
Cynthia Lennon, John Lennon’s first wife, was born in Blackpool in 1939.
Her mother, Lillian Powell, was moved away from Liverpool due to the risk of air raids in World War II.
Lennon grew up in Hoylake, and developed an interest in art. She met John Lennon at art college in Liverpool, and married him in 1962.
On their relationship, she wrote in her 2005 memoir John, “My feelings for John were very different from those I’d had for any other boy: more powerful, more exciting and totally unshakeable. And I sensed in John the same strong feelings.”
The couple had a son, Julian Lennon, in 1963.
They split in 1968, after Cynthia discovered her husband’s relationship with Japanese artist Yoko Ono.
Cynthia Lennon died at home in Spain after a battle with cancer in 2015.
Hunter Davies, who wrote a biography of The Beatles in 1968, said Cynthia was "a lovely woman".
He said: "When I was writing the book I spent two years with them, visiting her home and spending time with her.
"She was totally different from John in that she was was quiet and reserved and calm.
"She was not a hippy at all.
"I think it was the attraction of opposites between them. When they got together at art school everyone was amazed - she was seen as refined and reserved and nobody thought they would last."
Morfydd Clark, who will portray Cynthia Lennon on screen, gained international attention playing Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on Amazon Prime.
Clark also earned critical praise for her performance in the psychological horror Saint Maud (2019), winning a BAFTA Cymru Best Actress award and receiving nominations at the British Independent Film Awards and BAFTA Rising Star Awards.
Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono, a Japanese avant‑garde artist, musician and peace activist, first met John Lennon in 1966 at a London exhibition of her work.
Born in Tokyo in 1933, she became a central figure in the international art world before her relationship with Lennon brought her even greater public attention.
The pair married in 1969, and their creative partnership and activism, particularly their peace campaigns during the Vietnam War, became as famous as Lennon’s music.
Ono’s influence extended beyond music and art, she was often a polarising figure in the public eye, sometimes misunderstood and blamed for the Beatles’ breakup.
Anna Sawai, the actress portraying Yoko Ono first gained attention as a member of the J‑pop group FAKY before transitioning to acting, and she has since received widespread acclaim for her television performances in shows like Pachinko (2022), Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (2023) and Shōgun (2024), the last of which earned her a SAG Award, a Golden Globe and a historic Emmy win.
In terms of portraying Ono, Sawai told People: "It’s just exciting because her story is so inspirational to me, and people really don’t know the true person that she was.
"She’s an incredible artist. And also, she just was an independent woman and people didn’t like that. They wanted John for themselves and she was an easy target. And I think it’s very meaningful for me to be able to tell her story."
Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar is famed for teaching George Harrison how to play the sitar, a traditional Indian instrument.
Born in 1920 into Varanasi, India, Shankar moved to Paris when he was ten and toured Europe and America in his teenage years.
By the 1950s, he’d become one of the world’s most renowned sitar players and composers, collaborating with classical musicians such as violinist Yehudi Menuhin and famous jazz artists like John Coltrane.
Shankar and Harrison met for the first time in 1966, at a dinner hosted by the Asian Music Circle in London.
Harrison asked Shankar for sitar lessons and the pair went on to collaborate on several projects including the Concert for Bangladesh charity event in 1971.
Shankar had an immense influence on the Beatles’ music.
Forbes said: “Ravi Shankar wasn’t merely a footnote in Beatles history, he was also the man who fundamentally altered the sonic and spiritual trajectory of one of the 20th century's most influential bands.”
He died aged 92, leaving behind his wife Sutkanya and daughters Anoushka Shankar and the singer Norah Jones.
Indian actor, filmmaker and signer Farhan Akhtar, is set to play Shankar. Known for films like Dil Chahta Hai, Rock On!! and Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Akhtar brings his versatility to the role of the sitar maestro whose friendship with Harrison shaped The Beatles’ music.
In an Instagram post, the actor wrote he was ‘honoured and grateful’ to be part of The Beatles legacy.
“Honoured and grateful to be part of the ever-expanding legacy of @thebeatles and of Pandit Ravi Shankar ji.
“Their creative genius is a rite of passage for generation after generation of listeners… Thank you, Sam Mendes… I have been an ardent admirer of all your work, and to be directed by you in this film is the stuff dreams are made of.”
Jane Asher
Jane Asher is Paul McCartney’s ex-girlfriend.
Asher began acting in childhood, appearing in Robin Hood TV series and BBC’s Juke Box Jury.
She met Paul McCartney when she was just 17, at Royal Albert Hall.
McCartney said of his former girlfriend: "I met Jane Asher when she was sent by the Radio Times to cover a concert we were in at the Royal Albert Hall – we had a photo taken with her for the magazine and we all fancied her. We’d thought she was blonde, because we had only ever seen her on black-and-white telly doing Juke Box Jury, but she turned out to be a redhead. So it was: ‘Wow, you’re a redhead.’"
He said: "I tried pulling her, succeeded, and we were boyfriend and girlfriend for quite a long time."
The couple dated for five years until the actress famously broke off their engagement during a BBC television interview.
British‑American actress Lucy Boynton has been cast as Jane Asher.
Born in New York in 1994 and raised in London, Boynton began acting as a child and has built a varied career on both screen and television. She made her debut as young Beatrix Potter in Miss Potter (2006) and went on to appear in Ballet Shoes and Sense and Sensibility.
Boynton gained wider recognition for roles such as aspiring model Raphina in Sing Street (2016) and as Freddie Mercury’s partner Mary Austin in the global hit Bohemian Rhapsody (2018). She also stars in the Netflix series The Politician and has recently appeared in films including The Greatest Hits, Chevalier and The Pale Blue Eye.
Stuart Sutcliffe
Stuart Sutcliffe was the original Beatles’ bass player who left the band in 1960 before they rocketed to fame.
Born in Edinburgh but growing up in Liverpool, Sutcliffe met John Lennon at Liverpool College of Art. By May, he’d joined Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison in the band.
However, Astrid Kirchherr, Sutcliffe’s girlfriend at the time, said that his real passion was art. “Rock and roll he just liked,” she said.
“He liked to stand on a stage and look cool and wear a leather jacket; but that was all about posing and just because John was his friend.”
He left The Beatles in July 1961 and enrolled at the local art school HFBK Hamburg.
He died aged 21 after suffering a brain aneurysm. His artworks are on display at the Liverpool Beatles Museum.
Harry Lawtey, known for his breakout role in Industry and appearances in Riviera and Peaky Blinders, will portray Sutcliffe.
