The Beatles Biopic: First look at cast from Sam Mendes’ four-film series, draws mixed reactions online

Sony Pictures has unveiled the first official images of the cast for director Sam Mendes’ Beatles biopic series, generating significant attention and mixed reactions from fans around the world.

First look from The Beatles' biopic series is out

The images reveal Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr and Joseph Quinn as George Harrison, each in character for their respective films.

The unique promotional effort involved hiding postcards with the images at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts for students to find, a nod to the band’s Liverpool roots and an inventive way of releasing material.

Internet Reacts to the First Look

Social media and online communities were quick to react after the images spread across the internet. Many fans praised Mescal’s portrayal of McCartney, often pointing out his striking resemblance to the young Beatle and his ability to capture McCartney’s expressive features.

The string of online reactions includes posts like “that Mescal McCartney picture is actually insane dude (sic)” and “paul looks perfect; harris lowkey doesn’t look anything like john but the hair and the glasses will carry him; barry could be so much worse; joseph is completely hopeless (sic).”

Other fans focused on the challenges of capturing not just the look but the sound of the period, arguing that “The Scouse accent is one of the most notoriously difficult accents to replicate (sic)” and that getting all four right simultaneously would be extraordinarily challenging.

Some comments were more humorous, such as “All I'm saying is, it would've made more of an impact if they were all CGI monkeys (sic).” At the same time, a few expressed stronger dissatisfaction, with one fan remarking “This is the worst thing that has ever happened to me (sic)” in reference to Joseph Quinn’s casting as George Harrison.

Despite the varied opinions, online forums were abuzz with discussion, speculation and meme sharing within hours of the images’ release.

More about the project

The ambitious project, titled The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event, will consist of four separate feature films, each focusing on the story of a single Beatle from his own perspective. All four films are scheduled for a simultaneous theatrical release in April 2028.

Mendes has described the series as a new way of presenting a biography on the big screen — a “binge-able theatrical experience” that allows audiences to see each member’s life in depth rather than compressing all four into one standard biopic.

Supporting roles in the series include notable actors such as Saoirse Ronan as Linda McCartney, Harry Lloyd as George Martin and James Norton as Brian Epstein, among others. Mendes’ team intends to explore not only the band’s meteoric rise to global fame but also the personal journeys, relationships and creative tensions that shaped them.