Maggie O’Farrell on Adapting ‘Hamnet’ for the Big Screen

On this episode, we’re joined by the novelist Maggie O’Farrell to discuss the new film adaptation of her 2020 novel Hamnet, which she co-wrote with the film’s Oscar-winning director, Chloé Zhao.

Maggie speaks with us about what it means to see a book reimagined for the screen without losing any of its tactility or emotional power, and how the collaborative process expanded rather than narrowed her understanding of the original work. For her, this was not a matter of surrendering her novel to the big screen, but of discovering new ways to open out a story she thought she was finished with.

We also discuss the film’s extraordinary ensemble cast, including Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Emily Watson, Joe Alwyn, and Jacobi Jupe; how the film’s director created a visual language to frame the historical experience as something rooted in the present tense; and Maggie’s reflections on the strange prescience of this plague story being originally released in March 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hosted by Ryan Edgington.