Robin Hood has been portrayed many times on screen, from Errol Flynn to Sean Connery to Russell Crowe. As you know, Robin Hood is a British folk hero who stole from the rich to give to the poor.
Most of us will remember Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and how the song ‘Everything I do’ was in the number one slot of the UK charts for, what seemed, over 4 years. It was actually 17 weeks, but still, here’s the earworm.
I new take on the story is due out, The Death of Robin Hood, which stars Hugh Jackman, Bill Skarsgard, Jodie Comer, Noah Jupe, Murray Bartlett, Alfie Lawless, and Tabitha Smyth. Here is an image of Jackman as Hood.
Michael Sarnoski is the writer and director. He is known for movies like Pig, with Nick Cage, and A Quiet Place: Day One. Personally, I can’t say I was overly impressed with either of those movies.
The new story is:
Robin Hood grapples with his past life of crime and murder while in the hands of a mysterious woman after being badly injured.
A New Version
It does say, but maybe Jackman is playing older Hood, and Skarsgard is playing him in his younger days? Jackman talked to Entertainment Weekly about the movie:
“What I love so much about Mike’s vision of Robin Hood is that the script delivered power, and it examines how power can be used for good or bad. Robin Hood is a real man in our story. With all the scars, the pain, the regret, and yes, the love. Mike’s story has weight to it. For me, it’s beautiful and human.”
Oh, great, he’s going to be ‘beautiful and human’. The director, Sarnoski, went on to say:
“You can be as familiar with earlier versions as you want, you’ll be carried along to understand what this version is, because the performances are so specific and so different from what you’ve seen before.”
OK, I’m being a little mean here, but how many times have we heard something like this before? And how many times have we been disappointed? Sarnoski went on to say:
“He was this murderous outlaw who did a lot of terrible things, and was kind of monstrous. But he’s lived long enough to see this folklore get created about him. He’s figuring out how he feels about that, about being portrayed as a hero when he knows what he really was.”
Here’s hoping I’m wrong and The Death of Robin Hood might be good. We will find out when it is released in June 2026.
