Emilia Clarke’s latest film is built around one train ride, two possible lives, and a romantic choice shaped by timing.
Next Life, written and directed by Drake Doremus, premiered at the 2026 Tribeca Festival as a Spotlight Narrative selection. The film stars Clarke as Ivy, a woman whose life splits into two timelines after a chance encounter on a train in London.
In one version, Ivy spills coffee on a jazz musician played by Édgar Ramírez. In another, that meeting does not happen, and she reconnects with her ex-fiancé, played by Jack Farthing. The film follows both paths as Ivy weighs love, timing, creative ambition, and the possibility that one small accident can change the shape of a life.
The early critical response has been measured. The Hollywood Reporter described Doremus’ film as a romantic thought exercise that works better when focused on artistic passion than on romance itself.
Clarke Leads a Story Built Around Two Versions of One Life
Tribeca’s official program describes Next Life as a 112-minute drama, music, and romance feature from the United Kingdom. The festival synopsis places Ivy on a train to her goddaughter’s christening, where one small accident opens the door to a new relationship with Ramírez’s character.
The alternate timeline takes Ivy somewhere else. Instead of beginning a romance with a stranger, she arrives alone and reconnects with her former fiancé, a man tied to an earlier version of her life and career.
That setup gives Clarke a role centered on uncertainty rather than spectacle. Ivy is pulled between two futures: one built around a new connection in London’s jazz world, and another tied to the past she thought she had left behind.
Drake Doremus Returns to Familiar Romantic Territory
Doremus has built much of his career around intimate stories about love, distance, and timing. His 2011 film Like Crazy won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and remains one of the titles most closely associated with his style of naturalistic romantic drama.
Next Life continues that interest in relationships shaped by timing and circumstance. The difference here is the parallel-timeline structure, which gives the film a speculative frame while keeping the story grounded in Ivy’s choices.
Tribeca describes the film as an exploration of love, fate, and timing. That framing fits Doremus’ long-running interest in relationships that hinge on small decisions, physical distance, missed chances, and emotional hesitation.
The Cast Connects Film, Music, and Romance
Clarke is joined by Édgar Ramírez and Jack Farthing, giving Next Life a central triangle that plays across the film’s two timelines. Ramírez’s character enters Ivy’s life through the jazz scene, while Farthing’s character represents a past relationship that still carries emotional weight.
The official Tribeca listing also names Clarke as one of the film’s producers, alongside Drake Doremus, Kate Buckley, Gleb Fetisov, Elika Portnoy, and Ben Pugh. That gives the project an added layer of interest for viewers following Clarke’s work beyond acting roles.
Music is part of the film’s texture rather than simple background. Tribeca points to “funky nights at the jazz club” and vocal performances by Clarke and Ramírez, placing performance inside Ivy’s two possible lives.
Next Life Still Awaits a Wider U.S. Release Path
Next Life premiered at Tribeca on June 5, with additional festival screenings scheduled during the event. The festival listing identifies Rocket Science for international sales and CAA for U.S. sales.
Variety reported that Vertigo Releasing picked up the film for the United Kingdom and Ireland, with a fall 2026 theatrical release planned for those markets.
A confirmed U.S. release date has not been announced in the festival materials. For now, the film’s public path is clear in two places: Tribeca for its world premiere, and U.K. and Irish cinemas through Vertigo later this year.
The film’s central question stays with Ivy: the jazz musician after a spilled coffee, or the ex-fiancé waiting in the life where that accident never happens.