Golden Globes 2026: ‘Hamnet’ wins ‘Best Picture – Drama’
At the 83rd annual Golden Globes, it was Chloé Zhao’s historical drama ‘Hamnet’ that took home the award for ‘Best Picture – Drama’.
Starring Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley, who picked up a Golden Globe for her fantastic performance, Hamnet is a complex dramatisation of the biographies of William Shakespeare and his wife, Agnes.
Revolving around the death of their young son and how they come to terms with a loss of that magnitude, Hamnet sees Chloé Zhao return to form with an emotionally moving cinematic experience, elevated by the incredibly strong central performances, especially by Buckley.
The other contenders in the ‘Best Picture – Drama’ category included: Ryan Coogler’s Sinners; Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just An Accident; Guilermo del Toro’s Frankenstein; Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value; and Kleber Mendonça Filho’s The Secret Agent.
Looking at the quality of the other nominations there, especially the likes of It Was Just An Accident and Sentimental Value, it’s almost surprising to see that Hamnet managed to nab the coveted ‘Best Picture – Drama’ award.
Even setting aside the critical darlings, many thought Coogler’s Sinners, which won the ‘Cinematic and Box Office Achievement’, would emerge victorious simply because of how much discourse the film managed to generate upon release.
Taking to the stage, Steven Spielberg, who was a producer on Hamnet, said: “Sam Mendes, who sent me the book by Maggie O’Farrell, Hamnet…”
Adding, “I love the book, but I felt there was really only one filmmaker on the face of the planet who could tell the story of Agnes and Will and the spirits of the earth and the forest…”
Concluding, “That was the exceptional, exceptional, exceptional Chloé Zhao.”
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