Saoirse Ronan to play Linda McCartney in Mendes's Beatles quartet

Saoirse Ronan has signed on to play Linda McCartney in Sam Mendes's planned fourpart film series about The Beatles, with all four installments slated for theatrical release in April 2028, studio sources said. Ronan will appear opposite Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney in The Beatles: A Four-Film Cinematic Event, the project that will tell each band member's story from a separate viewpoint.

The ensemble cast already includes Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison, and Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr. Mendes is directing all four features, which are being produced in partnership between Sony Pictures Entertainment and Mendes's Neal Street Productions. Scripts are credited to Jez Butterworth, Peter Straughan, and Jack Thorne, and producers on the films include Mendes, Pippa Harris, Julie Pastor and Alexandra Derbyshire. Sony is financing and distributing the films. The families of the band’s members and Apple Corps have granted life story and music rights for the scripted features, marking the first time such comprehensive authorization has been given for Beatles material in narrative films.

Ronan is expected to figure prominently in the installment centered on...