Every ‘The Death of Robin Hood’ Cast Member and Why Their Choices Will Shock You

Few legends have been retold as many times as Robin Hood, and yet A24’s ‘The Death of Robin Hood‘ is positioning itself as the version nobody expected. Directed and written by Michael Sarnoski, the film arrives in theaters on June 19 with a cast that reads less like a swashbuckling adventure and more like a chamber drama built around guilt, violence, and fragile hope.

The marketing alone signals the shift. The lore of the legendary archer has been adapted countless times, but this new A24 movie takes a gritty turn, with Jackman playing the aged icon haunted by his past crimes. What makes it genuinely compelling before a single ticket is sold is who Sarnoski assembled to tell that story.

Hugh Jackman Takes on Robin Hood as a Dark, Grizzled Antihero

Hugh Jackman, outfitted with a flowing grey mane and a bushy, straggly beard, plays a solitary Robin who has long been separated from his Merry Men, wandering the 13th-century countryside always enveloped in mist. It is a deliberate and striking departure from every cheerful iteration that came before it.

In this completely original take, the band of Merry Men are long gone, the bow and arrows are as lethal as an AR-15, and a grizzled, gray-haired, muddied Robin Hood presents himself in the farthest reaches of a battlefield where combatants simply beat each other to death in brutally violent fights. This is not the hero who winks at the camera.

Jackman’s portrayal of Robin is equal parts bitter and tender. As he adapts from being a brigand to life at the priory, Jackman gruffly conveys Robin’s cynical mindset while hinting at his hopes. Critics who have seen early screenings largely agree that his commitment to the role is never in doubt, even when the film itself divides opinion.

While Jackman brings an undeniable grizzled intensity to the role, his Wolverine is practically a cut-up by comparison. Jackman is also one of the film’s producers, alongside Aaron Ryder, Andrew Swett, and Alexander Black.

Jodie Comer and Bill Skarsgård in Career-Redefining Supporting Roles

Jodie Comer plays the aforementioned mysterious woman, while Bill Skarsgård takes on the role of Little John. Both are working in heavily disguised, physically transformed territory that keeps audiences genuinely off-balance.

Sister Brigid isn’t merely a one-note female healer. Comer’s interpretation paints her as a devoted cleric whose faith and stability are hard-earned. His wounds are treated by a prioress named Sister Brigid, played by Jodie Comer, who is always fascinating in her choices. The role requires restraint over spectacle, which is exactly where Comer thrives.

Skarsgård’s Little John recruits Robin for one final battle, and it doesn’t go well for Robin, who winds up gravely injured. Hood also makes a very unlikely friend in a truly unrecognizable Murray Bartlett, who challenges him to become a part of his new community and leave his old ways behind him for good.

Bill Skarsgård, Murray Bartlett, and Noah Jupe joined the cast in February 2025, rounding out the ensemble alongside previously announced stars Hugh Jackman and Jodie Comer. The trio brought significant franchise credibility with them, given their respective histories with ‘Nosferatu,’ ‘The White Lotus,’ and ‘A Quiet Place.’

Michael Sarnoski’s Dark Reimagining and the Production Behind It

Producers Aaron Ryder and Andrew Swett described the project plainly, saying, “This is not the story of Robin Hood we’ve all come to know. Instead, Michael has crafted something far more grounded and visceral.” That promise shapes every technical decision made on set.

Filming took place at Belfast Harbour Studios and on location at Silent Valley, Glenram, and Murlough Bay, with post-production at Yellowmoon in Holywood, County Down. The film had wrapped by late March and was shot on 35mm film. The tactile, grainy quality of that format feeds directly into the film’s atmosphere of decay and weight.

Sarnoski and longtime cinematographer Pat Scola make expressionistic use of Northern Ireland’s rugged terrain, from wide, rocky vistas shrouded in haze to forests dappled with purple flowers. The film’s early going is characterized by mud, fire, and shadow, while its latter passages are all cool gray seas and sunlit stone halls.

The film is based on the 17th-century ballad ‘Robin Hood’s Death’ and is distributed by A24, with a running time of 122 minutes. It premiered at the Sydney Film Festival on June 12, 2026, ahead of its wide US theatrical release.

What the First Critics Are Saying About the A24 Medieval Thriller

With the first wave of reviews counted, ‘The Death of Robin Hood’ holds a Fresh 68% rating on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer. The divide in critical opinion maps closely onto whether a viewer is willing to sit with the film’s relentless sobriety.

The Lamplight Review praised the film, explaining that it is somber, occasionally punishing, and stubbornly uninterested in giving audiences a good time in any traditional sense, but also called it one of the most moving films of the year so far. On the other side of the conversation, Mashable described the film as an unpleasant and cynical slog, despite a promising cast.

Many filmmakers and renowned actors, including Kevin Costner, Russell Crowe, and Taron Egerton, have braved the challenge of portraying Robin Hood, but each movie adaptation has endured mixed to poor receptions since 1991. There has been an ongoing 35-year streak of Rotten Tomatoes scores falling below 60%, and if ‘The Death of Robin Hood’ maintains or improves its rating, it would end that underwhelming trend.

Noah Jupe, who plays a young man headed down a violent path, delivers a moving performance as a foil to Robin, and Faith Delaney’s portrayal of Little Margaret, Little John’s daughter, is described as particularly stunning. The deeper the ensemble stretches, the more the film reveals itself as a story about cycles of violence rather than one man’s biography.

Whether you think ‘The Death of Robin Hood’ earns its grimness or wallows in it, this cast is impossible to ignore, so tell us which performance has you most intrigued heading into opening weekend.