Focus Features has released the first trailer for a new adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, with Daisy Edgar-Jones leading a cast that includes Esmé Creed-Miles, George MacKay, and Caitríona Balfe.
According to Variety, Edgar-Jones plays Elinor Dashwood, one of three sisters who are forced to leave their family estate with their widowed mother after their father's death. The sisters move to a modest cottage, where they encounter love and heartbreak for the first time. Creed-Miles plays the younger sister Marianne Dashwood, while Balfe takes the role of their mother, Mrs. Dashwood. Frank Dillane plays John Willoughby, Herbert Nordrum plays Colonel Brandon, and Fiona Shaw plays Mrs. Jennings. MacKay plays Edward Ferrars.
The film was directed by Georgia Oakley, whose debut feature Blue Jean earned her nominations for a BAFTA Film Award and a British Independent Film Award. This adaptation was written by Diana Reid, a bestselling novelist whose debut, Love and Virtue, won the ABIA Book of the Year Award. Her third novel, Signs of Damage, was released in March 2025.
Working Title Films is producing the picture. The studio has a long history with Austen adaptations, having previously produced the 2005 Pride and Prejudice starring Keira Knightley and the 2020 Emma starring Anya Taylor-Joy, as well as rom-com staples like Love Actually and Bridget Jones's Diary.
The most celebrated previous film version of Sense and Sensibility came in 1995, directed by Ang Lee. That film starred Emma Thompson as Elinor and Kate Winslet as Marianne. Thompson also wrote the screenplay and won her second Academy Award for it, according to Variety.
Austen is receiving considerable attention on screen this year. As Collider noted, Netflix is also developing a Pride and Prejudice series with Emma Corrin as Elizabeth Bennett, and a separate series based on Janice Hadlow's Pride and Prejudice continuation, The Other Bennett Sister, is also in the works. The new Sense and Sensibility adaptation follows Austen's debut novel, which, per a June 2025 announcement cited by IndieWire, was "originally published anonymously with the byline reading 'By A Lady'" and "established her as a literary force."
The trailer offers sweeping landscapes and extended scenes of romantic tension. The official logline describes the film as "an irresistible new take on Jane Austen's iconic 'Sense and Sensibility': a charming, witty, and deeply relatable story of love and sisterhood."
Focus Features will release the film in the United States on October 16.
