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Fresh off the back of multiple Oscar nominations and a record-breaking haul of BAFTA nods, “Hamnet” lead producer Liza Marshall has extended her creative partnership with Maggie O’Farrell, the celebrated author of the book the hit film was adapted from.
Marshall, who optioned “Hamnet” before its publication in 2020, has now secured the screen rights to O’Farrell’s upcoming novel “Land” for her London-based production company Hera Pictures.
Due for release in June, “Land” is set in 1865 and follows Tomás and his reluctant son Liam as they work on Ireland’s Ordnance Survey in the aftermath of the Great Hunger. As they traverse a country still shaped by loss, displacement and unresolved history, the novel explores themes of separation and reunion, colonization and resistance, buried histories and survival — all anchored in what’s described as a “profound father-son relationship and a vividly realized Irish landscape.”
The novel, O’Farrell’s 10th, is already generating early buzz, having been selected in multiple book of the year previews across the U.K. and U.S. and earning stellar pre-publication reviews. The U.K. and Ireland book tour for it — currently standing at 21 events over three weeks in June — has seen unprecedented demand with half the events sold out in a week.
“Land is a profoundly moving work — intimate, expansive and deeply human,” Marshall said. “Maggie has an extraordinary ability to illuminate history through the emotional lives of her characters, and this novel feels both urgent and timeless. After the wonderfully collaborative experience of ‘Hamnet,’ I’m thrilled to continue my creative partnership with Maggie and bring another of her remarkable stories to the screen with the same care and ambition.”
The project is being developed as another prestige literary adaptation with strong international appeal, pairing O’Farrell’s distinctive narrative voice with Hera Pictures’ growing track record in elevated, character-driven storytelling. While no partner is yet on board, given the success of “Hamnet” — which has helped Focus Features to one of its most successful awards seasons in years, not to mention an impressive global box office — it’s unlikely to stay that way for too long.
“I’m over the moon that Liza and Hera have taken on ‘Land.’ This screen adaptation is in the best possible hands,” O’Farrell said. “It’s such a personal novel, incorporating my own family history, that I don’t think I could have entrusted it to any other producer. Liza is both a wide and wise reader, and she matches this with an almost uncanny ability to identify the right person for the right job on a film project. I know that for ‘Land’ she will put together a team as incredible and talented as the one for ‘Hamnet’ and I can’t wait to see it all unfold.”
Directed by Chloé Zhao, who co-wrote the screenplay with O’Farrell, “Hamnet” has been one of this year’s critical hits and awards season darlings. Starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal and telling the fictionalized and deeply moving story of William Shakespeare’s wife Agnes Hathaway and the death of their son, the film — alongside widespread acclaim — has earned eight Oscar nominations, 11 BAFTA nominations (the record for a film directed by a woman), a PGA nomination and a WGA nomination. Wins so far include the Golden Globes for best pictures and best actress, a Critics Choice award and TIFF’s People’s Choice award.
Early conversations are already underway with top-tier talent for “Land,” which joins Hera Pictures’ growing slate of authored projects including “The Return of Stanley Atwell,” starring Nicholas Galitzine.
O’Farrell is published by Headline’s Tinder Press imprint in the U.K. and Alfred A. Knopf in the U.S.
English (US) ·