Sam Mendes’ Beatles Biopic Just Recreated the Abbey Road Album Cover

I saw the photos of Paul Mescal walking across Abbey Road in a mop top wig and I had to sit with that for a minute. Four different actors just recreated one of the most famous album covers ever made, for a movie that isn’t even out until 2028. That’s how confident Sam Mendes is that this project works.

The Cast Nobody Saw Coming

Mendes is directing four separate Beatles biopics, one built around each band member, and he locked in a cast that reads like a modern prestige drama fantasy draft. Variety confirmed Harris Dickinson is playing John Lennon, Paul Mescal is Paul McCartney, Joseph Quinn is George Harrison, and Barry Keoghan is Ringo Starr.

The supporting cast is just as loaded. Saoirse Ronan is playing Linda McCartney, Anna Sawai is Yoko Ono, Aimee Lou Wood is Pattie Boyd, and Mia McKenna-Bruce is Maureen Starkey. That’s eight major actors committing years of their careers to one shared universe built around four guys from Liverpool. I can’t remember the last time a music biopic swung this big, and I don’t think I’m supposed to be able to.

The Abbey Road Shoot

The moment that actually broke through this week was production recreating the Abbey Road crosswalk photo, the same one from the 1969 album cover. Mescal, Keoghan, Quinn, and Dickinson walked the real crossing outside Abbey Road Studios multiple times while cameras rolled, and footage leaked onto social media almost immediately.

It’s a small scene in the grand scheme of four feature films, but it’s the one that’s going to end up on every poster and every trailer, because it’s the shot everyone already has memorized whether they can name a single Beatles deep cut or not. Mendes clearly knows that too, which is probably why he let the cameras roll long enough for fan footage to get out before the studio could control the reveal itself.

Why Four Separate Movies Might Actually Work

My first reaction to “four Beatles movies, one per member” was that it sounded like a cash grab stretched way past its actual story. But the more I sit with it, the format fits. Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr had four genuinely different experiences inside the same band, and a single film always has to flatten three of them to make room for whoever gets to be the lead.

Splitting it out means Mendes can actually spend real time on George Harrison’s spiritual arc or Ringo’s version of events instead of reducing them to comic relief in someone else’s story. Compare that to how most music biopics get squeezed into two hours and you can see why this could be the more honest approach, even if it’s also the riskier one financially.

If you want a reminder of how big a music biopic can get when it’s done right, our take on Michael becoming the biggest biopic in history is worth a read. The bar for this genre just keeps climbing, and Mendes picked an ambitious way to try clearing it.

If you need something to hold you over until April 2028, the Abbey Road 50th Anniversary vinyl is still the best way to hear why that crosswalk photo means anything at all. Throw it on while you look at the new set photos, it hits different.

Frequently Asked Questions

When do Sam Mendes’ Beatles biopics come out?

All four films are set to release in April 2028, though an exact date hasn’t been announced yet.

Who plays who in the Beatles biopics?

Harris Dickinson plays John Lennon, Paul Mescal plays Paul McCartney, Joseph Quinn plays George Harrison, and Barry Keoghan plays Ringo Starr.

Are these four separate movies?

Yes. Each Beatle gets his own dedicated film, though the movies share crossover scenes, including the Abbey Road sequence.

What did the cast film at Abbey Road?

They recreated the iconic 1969 Abbey Road album cover photo at the real crosswalk outside Abbey Road Studios in London.

Who else is in the cast?

Saoirse Ronan plays Linda McCartney, Anna Sawai plays Yoko Ono, Aimee Lou Wood plays Pattie Boyd, and Mia McKenna-Bruce plays Maureen Starkey.