Saoirse Ronan to play Linda McCartney in Sam Mendes’ The Beatles films

Saoirse Ronan is understood to have signed a deal to play Linda McCartney in Sam Mendes’ upcoming The Beatles films.

Sony did not return calls to comment after reports appeared on Wednesday morning, however sources said Ronan has signed on. Mendes is directing The Beatles — A Four-Film Cinematic Event, which Sony Pictures will release in April 2028 in a bold distribution strategy.

Linda McCartney was the music photographer and musician who married Paul McCartney and became the keyboard player and back-up vocalist in Wings. She died from cancer in 1998.

Ronan will star opposite Paul Mescal as The Beatles co-founder. Mendes is directing one film about each of The Beatles band members. Harris Dickinson will play John Lennon, Barry Keoghan is cast as Ringo Starr, and Joseph Quinn will play George Harrison.

Ronan can be seen in the school thriller Bad Apples that screens at BFI London Film festival on Thursday and Saturday (October 9, 11) and premiered in Toronto last month. She has earned four Oscar nominations for Little Women, Lady Bird, Brooklyn, and Atonement.

When the four male leads were announced at CinemaCon in Las Vegas this year Tom Rothamn, the chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, said the 2028 release would become “the first bingeable theatrical experience”.

Mendes added at the time: “We need big cinematic events to get people out of the house”, adding that principal photography would take a little over one year.

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