Rachel Zegler wants to do a gender-swapped “Hamlet”
Rachel Zegler wants to do a gender-swapped “Hamlet”
Raechal ShewfeltFri, March 27, 2026 at 5:20 AM UTC
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Rachel Zegler in New York City in 2024Credit: Bryan Bedder/Getty
Rachel Zegler has big plans — for movies and the stage.
When asked if she would want to do more Shakespeare, the West Side Story actress was clear.
"If they'll have me, I'm dying to do more Shakespeare, my God," she told she told the U.K.'s The Standard. "I'd love to do a female Hamlet. I think that'd be so fun. Well, not 'fun,' really, but you know."
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The star of Disney's 2025 live-action version of Snow White certainly wouldn't be the first to do so. Gender-flipped adaptations of the Bard's work have been presented numerous times, in projects such as a well-reviewed 2020 production in Dublin, when Ruth Negga played the starring role. Cush Jumbo starred in an acclaimed gender-blind version in 2021.
Zegler, 24, also teased a project she couldn't completely disclose, describing it as "a musical film I'm really excited about, and I wish I could tell you what it is because I'm working with some f----ing amazing people on it. But I can't."
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It's been rumored for months that Zegler will take on the role of Gloria Estefan in a biopic, the outlet Broadway World noted, with Estefan herself having confirmed it to The Sun in October.
"We're still working on the green light because we’re figuring out where to do it, how to do it," the "Get on Your Feet" singer said then.
Speaking of her time on the stage, Zegler said that she'd been been able to overcome any nerves when she made her debut in June in London's West End. She was starring in Evita, playing a role previously taken on by the likes of Madonna and Patti LuPone.
Rachel Zegler stars in 'Snow White'Credit: Courtesy of Disney
"I'm terrified of everything, but I'm a really good actress," said Zegler, who won at the Golden Globes and was nominated at the Critics Choice Awards for her portrayal of Maria in West Side Story. "These roles are iconic for a reason, but I had done it before with West Side Story, and I knew I could do it again."
The actress said that she felt destined to star in Evita, and, after hearing she was being considered for the part, urged her agents to do what they could.
"I said, 'I don't care what it takes. I know that I can do it and that no one can do it like me,'" Zegler recalled. "That sounds really confident and probably borderline selfish. But there are times where you just know."
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
