When Does Tessa Thompson’s Hedda Release? Premiere Date, Plot, and More Explained

Nia DaCosta’s Hedda reinterprets Henrik Ibsen’s 1890 play Hedda Gabler as a sharp 1954 English period drama. Written and directed by DaCosta—known for Candyman and The Marvels—the 107-minute R-rated film stars Tessa Thompson as Hedda Gabler, a complex woman torn between repression and desire.

The story unfolds over one charged evening at a lavish party hosted by Hedda and her husband, George Tesman, at their country estate. A co-production of Amazon MGM Studios’ Orion Pictures, Plan B Entertainment, and Thompson’s Viva Maude, the film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2025, and later screened at Aspen, Zurich, and the BFI London Film Festival.

Critics praised Thompson’s commanding performance and DaCosta’s bold revisions, including transforming Ibsen’s Eilert Løvborg into Eileen Løvborg, forming a queer love triangle that deepens the narrative. Hedda opens in select U.S. theaters on October 29, 2025, and streams on Prime Video from October 22, 2025. DaCosta told Vanity Fair, “Wouldn’t it be cool to do a movie where I make all the subtitle text?”

 

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Set entirely over one night, the film explores power, repression, and female autonomy against the backdrop of postwar Britain. Sean Bobbitt’s cinematography and Hildur Guðnadóttir’s haunting score enhance its emotional depth. The R rating, attributed to sexual content, language, drug use, and brief nudity, supports the film’s intense psychological realism.

Thompson leads as Hedda, a restless newlywed driven by control and self-destruction. Nina Hoss portrays Eileen Løvborg, a renowned author and Hedda’s rival; Imogen Poots plays Thea Clifton, a key figure in the love triangle. Supporting roles include Tom Bateman, Nicholas Pinnock, and Kathryn Hunter.

At Deadline’s Contenders London, DaCosta said the film focuses on “what’s happening inside the characters,” making Hedda a taut, character-driven drama of emotional unraveling.

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