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Sense and Sensibility 2026: trailer, cast, release date, and Austen context
Focus Features lists Sense and Sensibility for October 16, 2026 in US theaters and has released the official trailer. Here are the cast, release date, and sources.
The Dashwoods are back on the big screen.
Focus Features lists Sense and Sensibility for October 16, 2026 in US theaters, and the official trailer is now out. The new movie is directed by Georgia Oakley and led by Daisy Edgar-Jones as Elinor Dashwood and Esme Creed-Miles as Marianne Dashwood.
It arrives in a very Austen-heavy year, which is good news for anyone whose watchlist has started to look like a Regency seating chart.
This one matters because Sense and Sensibility has not had the same constant screen churn as Pride and Prejudice. The 1995 Ang Lee film, with Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet, still casts a very long shadow. A new theatrical version has to do more than put pretty people in bonnets. It has to make Elinor and Marianne feel urgent again.
Last checked: June 26, 2026. Primary sources: Focus Features film page and Focus Features trailer page.
The short answer
Sense and Sensibility is a 2026 theatrical adaptation of Jane Austen’s first published novel. Focus Features lists the US release date as October 16, 2026, with the trailer now out. The film is directed by Georgia Oakley, written by Diana Reid, and produced by Working Title with Focus Features.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Film | Sense and Sensibility |
| US release date | October 16, 2026 |
| UK release date | September 25, 2026, according to Focus Features UK materials |
| Director | Georgia Oakley |
| Screenplay | Diana Reid |
| Based on | Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility |
| Elinor Dashwood | Daisy Edgar-Jones |
| Marianne Dashwood | Esme Creed-Miles |
| Mrs. Dashwood | Caitriona Balfe |
| Edward Ferrars | George MacKay |
| John Willoughby | Frank Dillane |
| Colonel Brandon | Herbert Nordrum |
| Mrs. Jennings | Fiona Shaw |
| Official trailer | Focus Features trailer page |
Watch the trailer
The official trailer is on Focus Features’ site here: Sense and Sensibility official trailer.
The trailer positions the film around the central Dashwood crisis: the women lose the security of Norland, move into a smaller life, and then have to navigate love while money, inheritance, and reputation press in from every side.
That is the thing Sense and Sensibility sometimes gets simplified away from. It is not only “Elinor is quiet, Marianne is emotional.” It is a book about women whose emotional choices are shaped by legal and financial vulnerability. Feeling too much is dangerous. Feeling too little is impossible.
Very Austen. Very stressful.
Who is in the cast?
Daisy Edgar-Jones plays Elinor Dashwood, the sister who feels deeply and hides it almost too well. Esme Creed-Miles plays Marianne, the sister who feels deeply and believes hiding it is a moral failure.
George MacKay plays Edward Ferrars, Frank Dillane plays John Willoughby, Herbert Nordrum plays Colonel Brandon, Caitriona Balfe plays Mrs. Dashwood, Bodhi Rae Breathnach plays Margaret Dashwood, and Fiona Shaw plays Mrs. Jennings.
That is a strong cast for a story that depends on emotional contrast. Elinor and Marianne are not opposites because one has feelings and the other does not. They are opposites because they have different theories about what feelings are for.
Who is making it?
Georgia Oakley directs, following her acclaimed feature Blue Jean. Diana Reid wrote the screenplay. The film comes from Focus Features and Working Title, with Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, India Flint, and Jo Wallett producing.
That Focus and Working Title connection is worth noting for Austen fans. Their 2005 Pride and Prejudice became one of the defining modern Austen films. Their 2020 Emma. also helped prove there was still room for visually distinct theatrical Austen adaptations.
This new Sense and Sensibility is not coming into an empty room. It is walking into a conversation with 1995, 2005, Emma., Fire Island, The Other Bennet Sister, and the incoming Netflix Pride and Prejudice.
What looks different this time?
The early materials point toward a more grounded, textural version of the Dashwoods’ world. Vogue’s first look emphasized Oakley’s interest in the precarious position of the Dashwood women, who are close enough to gentility to know what they have lost and close enough to the edge to feel it every day.
That is exactly the pressure Sense and Sensibility needs. The Dashwoods do not become poor in a modern sense, but they lose status, space, options, and ease. Their new life at Barton is smaller. Their choices are watched. Their romances are never just private feelings.
The trailer also leans into sisterhood, which is the right center. The romantic plots matter, of course. Edward, Willoughby, and Brandon are not optional furniture. But the story’s heartbeat is Elinor and Marianne trying to survive the same loss with very different emotional languages.
Why this Austen adaptation matters now
Pride and Prejudice is the adaptation machine. Sense and Sensibility is the quieter engine.
It asks a different question. Pride and Prejudice often turns on judgment: how do you see clearly? Sense and Sensibility turns on expression: what do you do with feeling once you have it?
That makes it very 2026. Modern audiences are good at talking about emotional honesty, boundaries, repression, vulnerability, and the cost of performing composure. Elinor is not boring because she restrains herself. Marianne is not foolish because she is open. Austen is interested in how both strategies can be noble, dangerous, and incomplete.
If Oakley’s film can hold that tension, it will have a reason to exist beyond nostalgia.
Where it fits in Austen year
This arrives in the same broader moment as The Other Bennet Sister, its new Christmas special news, and Netflix’s new Pride and Prejudice adaptation. The common thread is not simply “more Austen.” It is a renewed interest in the women slightly outside the central romantic myth.
Mary Bennet. The Dashwood sisters. The mother trying to keep a family from falling. The younger sister watching everything and learning fast.
That is where Austen still feels alive. The marriage plot is the frame, but the real story is how women make lives under pressure.
What to watch before it
Start with the 1995 Sense and Sensibility if you want the comparison point everyone will mention. Then revisit the 1995 or 2005 Pride and Prejudice depending on whether you want the social world or the romantic voltage.
For a broader route through the current Austen screen world, use our Pride and Prejudice popular media guide and what to watch after Pride and Prejudice.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Sense and Sensibility 2026 release date?
Focus Features currently lists Sense and Sensibility for an October 16, 2026 theatrical release in the US. UK materials list a September 25, 2026 cinema release.
Who plays Elinor and Marianne in Sense and Sensibility 2026?
Daisy Edgar-Jones plays Elinor Dashwood and Esme Creed-Miles plays Marianne Dashwood in Georgia Oakley’s 2026 Sense and Sensibility adaptation.
Who is in the Sense and Sensibility 2026 cast?
The cast includes Daisy Edgar-Jones, Esme Creed-Miles, Caitriona Balfe, Frank Dillane, George MacKay, Fiona Shaw, Herbert Nordrum, and Bodhi Rae Breathnach.
Is there a trailer for Sense and Sensibility 2026?
Yes. Focus Features released the official trailer in June 2026, ahead of the film’s fall theatrical release.
Who directed and wrote Sense and Sensibility 2026?
Georgia Oakley directs Sense and Sensibility 2026, with a screenplay by Diana Reid.
Is Sense and Sensibility 2026 connected to the 1995 movie?
No official connection has been announced. The 2026 movie is a new theatrical adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel, not a sequel to Ang Lee’s 1995 film.
Sources and verification
Primary sources:
- Focus Features’ official Sense and Sensibility page: US release date, cast billing, director, screenwriter, producers, genre, and official film description.
- Focus Features’ official trailer page: trailer availability and official trailer page.
- Focus Features UK materials: UK release-date context.
Additional reporting checked for context:
Details last checked June 26, 2026. Release dates can move, so confirm against Focus Features or local cinema listings closer to opening.