Anthony Mackie Returns to Broadway as Macbeth

Mackie's First Stage Role in 16 Years

Anthony Mackie will return to Broadway to play Shakespeare's tragic Scottish general in Max Webster's production of *Macbeth*, taking the title role from spring 2027 after 16 years away from the boards, Deadline exclusively reports. Rehearsals begin in February 2027, with previews running from late March or early April and the play running until July at a Broadway theater yet to be announced. The Juilliard-trained actor was last on Broadway in Martin McDonagh's *A Behanding in Spokane* alongside Christopher Walken, Sam Rockwell and Zoe Kazan. 'Not too many people can say they did Macbeth on Broadway,' Mackie tells Deadline, calling the role 'a monumental feat, not only in my career, but in my life.'

SourcesDeadline

A Sound Design That Changes the House

The transfer brings a staging that made headlines in London. Deadline reports that Tony and Olivier Award-nominated director Max Webster first staged the production to acclaim at the Donmar Warehouse in late 2023, with David Tennant and Cush Jumbo as the Macbeths, before a sold-out 11-week West End run at the Harold Pinter Theatre. The production's signature is a binaural sound system designed by Tony and Olivier winner Gareth Fry, in which audiences wear headphones while actors speak into microphones. Mackie tells Deadline: 'Instead of having to project to the back of the house, the house comes to the stage.' Casting directors are seeking an actress for Lady Macbeth, and Mackie expects an all-American cast.

SourcesDeadline

The Marvel Scheduling Ripples

The announcement has consequences well beyond the theater district. IGN reports that Mackie said, 'Once I finish on Broadway, I'll go to finish up all the Avengers stuff for Secret Wars,' confirming that filming of *Avengers: Secret Wars* will stretch well into 2027 — a surprise for a blockbuster still yet to begin principal photography and just over a year from its planned December 17, 2027 release. According to IGN, filming was once believed due to start in September before reports suggested a delay to early next year, and Marvel has made no suggestion the release date will move. IGN notes fans are now wondering how filming and post-production can be completed in the time remaining.

SourcesIGN Deadline

Why He Came Back Now

Mackie tells Deadline that a conversation with his friend and mentor Wendell Pierce while shooting *Avengers: Doomsday* in London 'gave me the itch to get back on stage,' and that he spent weekends seeing London shows. He is preparing with celebrated drama teacher Richard Feldman, his Juilliard instructor of 30 years, whom he calls his 'point person.' He describes the stage as 'a rigorous beast' compared with film: 'It's not like when you're in a movie, you have to recite all of your lines every night.' He frames the role as timely — 'we're living in the day and age of ambition' — and says a London stage debut is planned 'hopefully sooner or later.'

SourcesDeadline

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