Wicker: Release Date, Cast, Plot and Where the New Olivia Colman Film Was Filmed

Where to Watch Wicker, the new twisted romance film starring Olivia Colman

Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård lead Wicker, an unusual romantic fantasy about a lonely fisherwoman who commissions herself a husband made from wicker. Blending dark comedy, romance and fairy-tale strangeness, the film turns a seemingly simple love story into a provocative challenge to a village’s rigid social conventions.

With Peter Dinklage and Elizabeth Debicki also among the cast, Wicker promises an offbeat cinematic experience exploring loneliness, desire, prejudice and what happens when someone refuses to follow society’s rules.

When is Wicker released?

Wicker is scheduled to arrive in UK cinemas on 30 October 2026. The US release is scheduled to begin in selected cinemas on 23 October, before expanding nationwide on 30 October.

The film is based on Ursula Wills-Jones’s short story The Wicker Husband and brings together an acclaimed cast for a darkly comic story with a distinctly fantastical twist.

For the latest release information and cinema updates, visit the official distributor’s website: https://blackbearpictures.com/film-and-tv/wicker

What is Wicker about?

On the outskirts of a seaside village lives a fisherwoman who has become an outsider in her own community. Unmarried, ridiculed and regarded with disdain by her neighbours, she is tired of being judged by people who refuse to accept anyone who does not conform to their expectations.

Eventually, she decides she has had enough. Rather than continuing to seek acceptance, she commissions herself a husband made from wicker.

Her unconventional romance quickly causes outrage, jealousy and chaos in a town where tradition and social standing matter more than individual happiness. The fisherwoman’s decision challenges the villagers’ assumptions about relationships, love and what constitutes a respectable life.

What begins as an eccentric fantasy becomes a story about independence, belonging and the expectations placed on women. By allowing its central character to choose a partner on her own terms, Wicker turns the traditional romantic fairy tale upside down.

The unusual wicker husband also raises questions about attraction, companionship and why society feels entitled to judge relationships that fall outside conventional boundaries.

Who stars in Wicker?

Olivia Colman as the Fisherwoman

Oscar-winning British actress Olivia Colman takes the lead role as the fisherwoman at the centre of the story.

Colman is renowned for her ability to move between comedy and drama. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Queen Anne in The Favourite and earned further Oscar recognition for The Lost Daughter.

Her other notable credits include The Crown, Broadchurch, The Father and Wicked Little Letters. Her combination of emotional depth and sharp comic timing makes her an intriguing choice for a character who is simultaneously vulnerable, unconventional and determined to live life on her own terms.

Alexander Skarsgård as the Wicker Husband

Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgård plays the extraordinary husband created at the fisherwoman’s request.

Skarsgård has established an international career across film and television, with roles in True Blood, Big Little Lies, The Northman and The Legend of Tarzan.

His performance in Wicker brings him into a fantastical romantic setting, offering a change of pace from some of his more physically demanding and dramatic roles.

The central relationship between Skarsgård’s character and Colman’s fisherwoman provides the film with its unusual romantic heart.

Peter Dinklage as the Basketmaker

Peter Dinklage plays the basketmaker responsible for creating the fisherwoman’s extraordinary husband.

Dinklage is best known for his award-winning portrayal of Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones. His film credits include The Station Agent, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Cyrano.

His character is crucial to the story’s central premise, transforming an unusual request into a romance that challenges the village’s established expectations.

Elizabeth Debicki and the supporting cast

Elizabeth Debicki also stars in the film. The Australian actress is internationally recognised for playing Princess Diana in The Crown and has appeared in Tenet, Widows and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

The wider cast includes Marli Siu, Nabhaan Rizwan and Richard E. Grant, bringing further familiar faces to the film’s eccentric village setting.

Where was Wicker filmed?

Wicker was filmed in Hungary, with Budapest serving as a production base. The production took place in 2025 and used studio facilities and constructed settings to help create the film’s old-world village atmosphere.

Although the story unfolds in a seaside community, its fictional setting gives the filmmakers room to create a distinctive fairy-tale world rather than simply reproduce a contemporary coastal town.

The village’s traditional appearance also reinforces the contrast at the heart of the film: a conservative community confronted by a romance that challenges everything it believes to be normal.

Who directed Wicker?

Wicker is written and directed by Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson, who adapted the film from Ursula Wills-Jones’s short story The Wicker Husband.

The filmmakers combine romantic fantasy with dark comedy, using an unusual premise to explore prejudice, conformity and personal freedom.

The result is a story that takes the familiar ingredients of a fairy tale and gives them a distinctly unconventional twist.

Why is Wicker worth watching?

The central idea is simple but provocative: a woman rejected by her community decides to create the romantic future she wants rather than accept the limited choices available to her.

That premise allows the film to explore social exclusion, gender expectations and the importance of individual choice. Its mixture of romance, absurdity and dark humour sets it apart from more conventional love stories.

The combination of Olivia Colman, Alexander Skarsgård, Peter Dinklage and Elizabeth Debicki also gives the film considerable star appeal.

For fans of unusual fairy tales, eccentric romantic comedies and films that use fantasy to examine real social attitudes, Wicker could be one of autumn’s more distinctive cinema releases.

Where can you watch Wicker?

Wicker is scheduled for a UK cinema release on 30 October 2026. Check local cinema listings and the official Black Bear Pictures website for screening times and ticket availability.

A confirmed UK streaming or digital rental date has not been established here. Viewers hoping to watch the film at home should look out for announcements from the distributor rather than assume it will arrive on a particular streaming platform.

For now, the big-screen release is the date to keep in mind for this unusual story of a fisherwoman, her handmade husband and the village that cannot accept their love.

Catch its stars on The Graham Norton Show this week (9 October, 2026).

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