Sam Mendes has finally lifted the curtain on his four-part Beatles saga, and one image has instantly dominated the conversation: Paul Mescal in full Paul McCartney mode. The first official photos of the Fab Four have turned a long-gestating curiosity into a full-blown cultural event, with Mescal’s transformation sparking a wave of disbelief, delight, and forensic scrutiny across social media.
The Beatles, one of the most mythologised bands in history, are now being reimagined through an ambitious “Four Film Cinematic Event” that gives each member a standalone story. At the centre of that experiment sits Mescal’s McCartney, a piece of casting that many fans are already calling uncannily accurate and that has, at least for now, seized the internet’s full attention.
The four-film gamble that made this casting matter
Sam Mendes is not simply making a single rock biopic, he is staging what has been described as The Beatles, a Four Film Cinematic built around the Fab Four as individual protagonists. Each film will focus on one of the four band members and, according to early briefings, the stories will intersect to tell how the band went from Liverpool obscurity to global dominance, with the structure designed to let John, Paul, George and Ringo each occupy the spotlight in turn. That scale raises the stakes on every casting choice, because the actors are not just recreating famous moments, they are carrying entire feature-length narratives on their own shoulders.
The project’s scope is underlined by the fact that all four films are currently set to arrive together, with All four slated for theatrical release on April 7, 2028. Director Sam Mendes has officially cast the leads for his four-film Beatles project, with an announcement that “The Fab Four have been found” shared in a celebratory post from Director Sam Mendes. That framing, as a unified yet segmented epic, is why Mescal’s McCartney is being treated less like a supporting turn and more like one quarter of a cinematic universe.
First-look photos that broke the spell of skepticism
For months, the idea of four separate Beatles films sounded to some like an overreach, but the first official images have shifted the tone. The Beatles’ own channels trumpeted The Beatles, a Four, Film Cinematic as One of the most ambitious film projects ever announced, and the new photos finally give that claim something tangible. In the key McCartney shot, Mescal is styled in early-Beatles tailoring, guitar in hand, with the kind of side-parted mop-top that has been pored over by fans who know every frame of A Hard Day’s Night. The level of detail is such that one reel reacting to the images flatly states that Paul Mescal looks amazing as Paul McCartney and that You “can’t tell the difference,” a verdict shared in an enthusiastic Paul Mescal fan breakdown.
The broader ensemble reveal has also helped sell the concept. A first-look spread shows Paul Mescal, Barry Keoghan, Harris Dickinson and Joseph Quinn in character for Sam Mendes’ upcoming four-picture portrait of The Beatles, with the NEED TO KNOW framing underscoring that these are the definitive faces of the project rather than placeholder casting. In another breakdown, the first look confirms that Paul Mescal, Barry Keoghan and Joseph Quinn play The Beatles alongside Harris Dickinson, with one commentator joking that the hair and wig department deserves a raise, a reaction captured in a detailed UPI report. That sense of visual conviction is what has started to melt away early doubts about whether anyone could believably step into these roles.
Why Mescal’s McCartney is dominating the discourse
Among all the casting choices, Mescal’s McCartney has emerged as the lightning rod. Social media and online communities were quick to react after the images spread across the internet, with Social feeds filling up with side-by-side comparisons of Mescal and the young bassist. Many fans praised Mescal’s poise and resemblance, arguing that Mescal has the mix of boyish charm and intensity needed to play Paul, a sentiment captured in coverage that highlights how Many viewers singled out Mescal as the most convincing of the four, as detailed in one Mescal-focused reaction piece.
That enthusiasm has been amplified by fan accounts that have been tracking the project for months. One widely shared post framed the reveal as the first look at the cast of the 4 Beatles biopics, listing Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney and Barry Keoghan as Ringo, and treating the images as a payoff to long-running speculation, as seen in a celebratory Beatles breakdown. Another reel, titled as a first official look at The Beatles movie cast, gushes that Paul Mescal looks amazing as Paul McCartney and that Barry Keoghan will likely make a great Ringo, reinforcing the idea that the McCartney casting, in particular, has landed with unusual force, as captured in a viral Paul reaction.
Perfect casting or overproduced mythmaking?
Not all of the online response has been uncritical, and that tension is part of why Mescal’s image has travelled so far. One widely shared joke claims, “I still can’t stop laughing about paul dedicating 85 percent of of the 4 beatle biopics’ budget to making paul mescal look as perfect as possible,” a line that captures both admiration for the transformation and suspicion that the production might be smoothing out the band’s rougher edges, as quoted in a wry Jan roundup. At the same time, another analysis notes that Joseph Quinn’s George Harrison is getting the most backlash, which has had the side effect of making Mescal’s McCartney look even more bulletproof by comparison, with fans rallying around the idea that at least one Beatle has been cast “perfectly.”
Other commentators have been more straightforwardly celebratory. One assessment of the posters argues that the images have “won” over skeptical viewers and calls the choices “perfect casting choices,” praising Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney and Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr in The Beatles, a Four, Film Cinematic Event that is set for theatrical release in April 2028 and also stars Harris Dickin, as outlined in a detailed Director Sam Mendes breakdown. That split between playful cynicism and genuine awe is typical of modern fandom, but in this case it has only intensified the focus on Mescal, whose image is being endlessly reposted by both camps.
The supporting cast and the long road to 2028
Mescal’s dominance of the conversation should not obscure how densely cast this project already is. Alongside Paul Mescal, Barry Keoghan, Harris Dickinson and Joseph Quinn, the films also feature Saoirse Ronan as Linda McCartney, James Norton as Brian Epstein and Anna Sa in a key supporting role, details that emerged in a casting breakdown that cites telegraph.co.uk and notes the time as 49 past the hour, as summarised in a report that highlights Saoirse Ronan as Linda, James Norton as Brian Epstein and Anna Sa in the ensemble, captured in a comprehensive Jan casting note. Another overview stresses that Each film will focus on one of the four band members and that the stories will intersect, while also pointing out that Anna Sawai, the Japanese-New Zealander, is playing key figures like Boyd and Maureen Cox respectively, as laid out in a detailed Each synopsis.
