There’s no shortage of William Shakespeare adaptations, but Vertical’s new “Hamlet” is making a clear play for a fresh angle rather than a museum-piece retread. Directed by Aneil Karia and starring Riz Ahmed as the haunted prince at the center of the story, the film reimagines the tragedy inside London’s elite South Asian community.
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That shift in setting immediately gives the material a new pressure point—family power, inheritance, class, and rot all feel baked into the premise before the revenge spiral even starts. And the official setup sticks close to the play’s central engine while translating it into a modern social world built on status and control.
Per the synopsis, when Hamlet returns home for his father’s funeral, he discovers that his uncle Claudius is preparing to marry his mother, who is newly widowed. After a visit from his father’s ghost, he learns Claudius murdered him, setting off a revenge mission that threatens to destroy both the family empire and Hamlet’s sanity.
The studio’s full description frames it this way: “Shakespeare’s most enduring tragedy is reimagined in a bold, modern adaptation set within London’s elite South Asian community. When Hamlet (Riz Ahmed) returns for his father’s funeral, he is stunned to discover his uncle Claudius is marrying his newly widowed mother. Visited by his father’s ghost, Hamlet learns his brutal murder was at the hands of Claudius — and spirals into a quest for vengeance that exposes the rot at the heart of the family’s empire and threatens his own sanity.”
Alongside Ahmed, the cast includes Morfydd Clark, Joe Alwyn, Sheeba Chaddha, Avijit Dutt, Art Malik, and Timothy Spall. Michael Lesslie wrote the screenplay, adapting Shakespeare’s play for the screen.
That ensemble and the setting are the obvious draw here. Still, the bigger hook is whether Karia can preserve the play’s psychological unraveling while making the modern context feel lived-in rather than cosmetic. “Hamlet” has survived every kind of reinterpretation because the core wound never changes—grief, suspicion, ambition, and a son who can’t separate justice from self-destruction.
Vertical releases “Hamlet” in theaters on April 10, 2026.
