Sense and Sensibility remake reopens Austen debate

What's happened

The new Sense and Sensibility adaptation has released in late September 2026, featuring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esme9 Creed-Miles. The film reimagines the Dashwood sisters’ crisis in a cooler, more austere tone, focusing on financial distress and personal ambition. Critics note strong performances from Fiona Shaw and Caitrf3na Balfe, while some cast choices spark debates about modern casting.

What's behind the headline?

Critical take on the remake

• The film recontextualises Austen by placing the Dashwoods in a modernized Devon setting, emphasizing economic precarity.
• Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esme9 Creed-Miles are contrasted as sense and sensibility, provoking discussion about faithfulness to the 1995 icons played by Thompson and Winslet.
• Mrs Jennings emerges as the standout force, shaping the film’s tonal pivot from tragedy to sharper social critique.
• The choice of Colonel Brandon and Mr Willoughby are debated for casting and tone, with some viewers urged to see the performances as a fresh interpretation rather than a direct replica.
• Overall, the remake is praised for visual craft and grounded acting, while some critics miss the warmth and final wedding uplift of earlier versions.

How we got here

Austen’s Sense and Sensibility has long been adapted for the screen. The 1995 film remains the touchstone, but the 2026 remake moves the action to a contemporary, urban setting with a different dynamic between Elinor and Marianne. Filmmaker Fiona Shaw and Caitrf3na Balfe bring new energy to the Dashwood household, while the screenplay by Diana Reid shifts emphasis toward economic tension and gendered expectations in 19th-century society.

Our analysis

The Guardian notes a cooler, more austere mood and questions the casting of Edgar-Jones and Creed-Miles; BBC Business highlights Edgar-Jones’s personal connection to the role and the film’s emphasis on resilience; The Scotsman critiques the tonal balance and the camera’s desaturated palette.

Go deeper

• What did you think of the new Marianne and Elinor compared to the 1995 duo?
• Which performance most changes your view of Austen’s sisters?
• Will the film influence how future Austen adaptions are cast?

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• Daisy Edgar-Jones - British actress

  Daisy Jessica Edgar-Jones is a British actress known for her television roles in Cold Feet, War of the Worlds and Normal People. She appeared on British Vogue's 2020 list of influential women.

• Elinor Dashwood - Fictional human

  Elinor Dashwood is a fictional character and the protagonist of Jane Austen's 1811 novel Sense and Sensibility. In this novel, Austen analyses the conflict between the opposing temperaments of sense (logic, propriety, and thoughtfulness, as expressed in Austen's time by neo-classicists), and sensibility (emotion, passion, unthinking action, as expressed in Austen's time by romantics). In this conflict, Elinor, a reserved, practical, and thoughtful young woman who largely embodies the "sense" of the title, is juxtaposed with her younger sister Marianne who mostly embodies "sensibility".

• Jane Austen - Novelist

  Jane Austen was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century.

• Emma Thompson - British actress

  Dame Emma Thompson DBE is a British actress, screenwriter, activist, author and comedian. She is one of Britain's most acclaimed actresses and is the recipient of numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, three BAFTA Awards

• Fiona Shaw - Irish actress

  Fiona Shaw CBE is an Irish actress and theatre and opera director. She is known for her roles as Petunia Dursley in the Harry Potter film series, Marnie Stonebrook in the fourth season of the HBO series True Blood, and Carolyn Martens in the BBC series Ki

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• Edward Ferrars - Fictional character

  Edward Ferrars is a fictional character in Jane Austen's 1811 novel Sense and Sensibility. He is the elder of Fanny Dashwood's two brothers and forms an attachment to Elinor Dashwood. As first described in Sense and Sensibility: "Edward Ferrars was not..

• Sense and Sensibility - Novel by Jane Austen

  Sense and Sensibility is a novel by Jane Austen, published in 1811. It was published anonymously; By A Lady appears on the title page where the author's name might have been.