Everything We Know About ‘The Nightingale’ Movie So Far: Release Date, Stars & More

Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- TriStar Pictures pushed 'The Nightingale' from February 12, 2027 to March 19, 2027 so the release can capitalize on Easter weekend, after the earlier date would have competed with Greta Gerwig's Narnia film.
- Kristin Hannah confirmed the film entered production at the end of March 2026, with Deadline visiting the Budapest set during an interview with Hello Sunshine president Lauren Neustadter.
- Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning are starring as sisters Vianne and Isabelle respectively — roles they have been attached to since 2019 — while producing through their company Lewellen Pictures alongside Hello Sunshine's Reese Witherspoon and Neustadter.
- The ensemble cast has grown to include Mark Rylance, Shira Haas, Edmund Donovan, Albrecht Schuch, Douglas Hodge, Gwilym Lee, and Vinette Robinson, per Deadline reporting that round out the film.
- Michael Morris is directing from a Dana Stevens script (The Woman King), with Nicole Brown and Shary Shirazi overseeing for TriStar — a project that originated from the novel's March 2023 Reese's Book Club selection.
- TriStar first acquired the film rights in 2015 and cycled through writers Ann Peacock, then Michelle MacLaren and John Sayles, and director Mélanie Laurent before the current script and Morris locked in.
Why it matters: TriStar and Hello Sunshine's March 2027 Easter slot rewards an unusually long arc — from 2015 rights acquisition across three writers and two directors to the current Budapest shoot — with a Reese's Book Club audience seeded since March 2023. The Fannings' dual casting offers a marketing pairing their separate careers have not produced, with Elle's concurrent 'Margo's Got Money Troubles' Apple TV+ visibility adding a second promotional vector.




