There are murder mysteries, and then there are sheep murder mysteries, apparently. Perhaps you’re already aware of this phenomenon; perhaps you were a fan of Leonie Swann’s Three Bags Full when the novel was published almost 20 years ago, in 2005.
For the rest of us, the description of the in-production Hugh Jackman (Logan, pictured above) film of the same name is a bit baffling. In a most delightful way, that is. Here’s what Variety says:
The film follows George Hardy (Jackman), a shepherd who loves his sheep and raises them only for their wool. Every night he reads aloud a murder mystery, pretending his sheep can understand, never suspecting that not only can they understand, but they argue for hours afterwards about whodunnit.
When George is found dead under mysterious circumstances, the sheep realize at once that it was a murder and think they know everything about how to go about solving it. The local cop Tim Derry (Nicholas Braun), on the other hand, has never solved a serious crime in his life, so the sheep conclude they will have to solve it themselves, even if it means leaving their meadow for the first time and facing the fact that the human world isn’t as simple as it appears in books.
Yes, you read that right: The sheep are going to solve the mystery, because that guy from Succession is no good at his job.
Three Bags Full also stars Emma Thompson, which makes perfect sense; could you really have a sheep murder mystery without her? I feel like the answer is no. The rest of the cast includes new He-Man Nicholas Galitzine (The Idea of You), Molly Gordon (The Bear), Hong Chau (Watchmen), Tosin Cole (Doctor Who), Kobna Holdbrook-Smith (Wonka), Conleth Hill (Game of Thrones), and Mandeep Dhillon (After Life).
Making this whole thing even more intriguing is the fact that the screenplay was written by Craig Mazin—yes, the Chernobyl and The Last of Us guy (and also the two Scary Movies and two Hangovers guy, somehow). Director Kyle Balda is making his live-action debut here after directing such animated films as The Lorax, Minions, and Despicable Me 3.
Unfortunately, we have a long time to wait for this truly incredible-sounding film to hit screens. While principle photography has wrapped, the film doesn’t come out for almost two years (presumably the sheep require some elaborate level of CGI shenanigans, though personally I think they should look like Shaun the Sheep). Three Bags Full arrives in theaters on February 20th, 2026.
