Every evening a shepherd reads aloud a murder mystery to his sheep, pretending they can understand. When he is found dead, the sheep realize that it was a murder and think they know everything about how to go about solving it. A film by Kyle Balda, starring Hugh Jackman, Nicholas Braun, Nicholas Galitzine, Molly Gordon, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, Chris O’Dowd, Regina Hall, Patrick Stewart, Bella Ramsey, Rhys Darby, Brett Goldstein, Tosin Cole, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Aroop Shergill, Jasper Ambrose, Ishi Agrawal, Tommy Birchall, Conleth Hill, Mandeep Dhillon, Sarah Flind, Laraine Newman, Michael Wildman, Hong Chau, and Emma Thompson.
The SHEEP DETECTIVES
Kyle Balda
(2026)
Inside his trailer, a shepherd named George (Hugh Jackman) drafts a letter to a woman named Rebecca. Answering her question about whether any of the sheep on his farm stand out, he writes that they are all special to him. He explains that he named each one based on their unique looks and quirks.
There are Ronnie & Reggie (Brett Goldstein), the rowdy twin rams; the proud and dignified Sir Ritchfield (Patrick Stewart); Cloud (Regina Hall), a fluffy diva; Zora (Bella Ramsey), the curious one; the ever-patient Mopple (Chris O’Dowd); and Wool-Eyes (Rhys Darby), whose fleece covers his face. However, two of his sheep are the most special of all: Sebastian (Bryan Cranston), a huge ram who is a bit of a loner like George himself, and Lily (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), his smartest sheep, who always seems to understand his thoughts and feelings.
Taking care of the kindest creatures on earth brings George a deep sense of peace. Every day, he tends to their health, keeping them fed, groomed, and properly medicated. As the sun sinks low in the sky and his daily chores come to an end, he reads out loud to them from his favorite detective novels and whodunits. The sheep gather around his trailer, lying in the grass as if eager to hear the story. George likes to think they understand every word.
Lily proves to be the smartest of the flock. She is the only one who figures out the identity of Rodney Hollingshead’s true killer in the novel Mystery at Brocklebank Bridge, solving the whodunit before George even finishes reading it to them the next day.
In his letter, George invites Rebecca to visit the farm but warns her about the quirky residents in the nearby town of Denbrook. He runs through a list of the locals, noting Caleb (Tosin Cole), a fellow shepherd he dislikes; Ham (Conleth Hill), a butcher he completely despises; Beth (Hong Chau), an innkeeper who doesn’t like him; and Tim (Nicholas Braun), the town’s idiotic policeman. Finally, he mentions Reverend Hillcoate (Kobna Holdbrook-Smith), a man who fancies himself a shepherd of men. Though George admits his relationship with Hillcoate is complicated, he doesn’t explain why.
One day, Caleb from the neighboring Sweet Clover Farm pays George a visit. Since it’s Caleb’s third visit this month, Lily assumes he wants to merge their flocks. Instead, the meeting turns sour, and George furiously chases Caleb out of the trailer. Visibly upset, George yells that Caleb lied after being given a chance, and forbids him from ever returning. The angry confrontation leaves the flock disturbed and agitated. Deciding the ordeal is simply too distressing, Lily suggests they just forget the visit ever happened. On the count of three, the flock taps into their unique ability to wipe their minds completely clean. Everyone instantly forgets, except Mopple, who is cursed with a terrible affliction that prevents him from forgetting anything.
Meanwhile, at the Partridge Inn, postwoman Jo (Mandeep Dhillon) is dropping off the mail. Beth notices a letter addressed to George sticking out of Jo’s bag. Curious, she asks who is writing to him. Eager to gossip, Jo insists she shouldn’t say anything, but quickly pulls the letter out anyway. She tells Beth that it’s a reply from a Miss Rebecca Hampstead in America, adding that the two have been mailing each other back and forth for months. Jo then holds the envelope close to Beth’s face and tells her to smell it, playfully suggesting they must be love letters because the paper is rose-scented. Beth is visibly frustrated. After tucking the letter back into her mailbag, Jo turns to leave. Taking advantage of the moment, Beth stealthily swipes the letter from the bag without Jo noticing.
Beth is just about to open the stolen letter when she is interrupted by Elliot Matthews (Nicholas Galitzine), a reporter for the Gazette arriving for the Denbrook Cultural Festival. Beth shows him to the event, but it turns out to be a letdown consisting of only three stalls. The first displays several paintings by Beth, the second offers a modest table of cheese and pickles, and the third features a random assortment of old town photos, medals, rocks, and a DVD of Return to Oz. Tim explains that it’s a film shot forty miles down the road, not even in Denbrook.
The underwhelming sight leaves Elliot incredibly upset. He confesses that he is an obituary writer desperate for his big break, and he had hoped this festival assignment from his editor would finally make him a real reporter. Realizing this lackluster event won’t earn him a promotion, Elliot decides to leave town.
That evening, as the rain begins to pour, the flock grows worried when George doesn’t come out of his trailer to read to them as usual. Instead, he keeps gazing out his window as if expecting someone. Back in town, Beth finally opens the snatched letter and becomes incredibly furious. She violently crumples the paper, which reads, “DEAR REBECCA, I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU.” Meanwhile, just outside of town, Elliot’s departure is abruptly cut short when he crashes his car into a tree on the side of the road.
Stranded, Elliot has no choice but to call a tow truck to haul his car back to Denbrook. On the ride back, the driver Tonia (Sarah Flind), cheerfully tells him it’s the perfect time to be in town for the Denbrook Cultural Festival, mentioning that she visited it last week with her sister. As the tow truck passes George’s farm in the middle of the driving rainstorm, Elliot spots a mysterious light glowing in the field before it suddenly vanishes into the dark.
Dozing inside his trailer, George is suddenly jolted awake by a series of knocks at the door. The identity of his late-night visitor is kept hidden off-screen, leaving the audience to wonder if Rebecca has finally arrived. The next morning, Mopple and Lily discover George’s dead body lying outside his trailer. Mysteriously, one of his hands is smudged with a green substance resembling grass stains, while his other hand is stained bright blue.
The good, the baa-d, and the hungry are all teaming up to crack this case.
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A film by Kyle Balda, starring Hugh Jackman, Nicholas Braun, Nicholas Galitzine, Molly Gordon, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, Chris O’Dowd, Regina Hall, Patrick Stewart, Bella Ramsey, Rhys Darby, Brett Goldstein, Tosin Cole, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Aroop Shergill, Jasper Ambrose, Ishi Agrawal, Tommy Birchall, Conleth Hill, Mandeep Dhillon, Sarah Flind, Laraine Newman, Michael Wildman, Hong Chau, and Emma Thompson.
Directed by American filmmaker Kyle Balda from a screenplay by Craig Mazin, The SHEEP DETECTIVES is a mystery comedy based on Leonie Swann’s novel Three Bags Full. The film follows a flock of sheep on a mission to find the person responsible for the murder of their beloved shepherd.
Three Bags Full is a quirky murder mystery in which a flock of sheep investigates the death of their shepherd in rural Ireland. The story begins when the sheep find George’s body pinned to the pasture with a spade, and they decide to uncover who killed him. The investigation unfolds from the sheep’s point of view. Originally published in German in 2005 as Glennkill: Ein Schafskrimi, the English edition followed later.
The story becomes engaging the moment the shepherd is found murdered, delivering exactly what you’d expect from a murder mystery.
The human ensemble also provides solid comedic performances, holding their own despite effectively acting as supporting characters to a flock of computer-generated sheep.
Each sheep is given a distinct name, personality, and surprisingly expressive face, with the twin rams being my personal favorites. On the other hand, Lily is written with frustratingly human flaws like prejudice, which quickly became annoying.
The sheep’s unique ability to selectively erase any memories that make them uncomfortable is a fascinating gimmick at first. However, the more they use it, the more frustrating it gets, since it never actually pushes the story forward or fixes the problems at hand.
Overall, it’s a fun popcorn movie, but not a very memorable one. It gets stuck somewhere between a dark comedy and a typical whodunit, never quite committing to the darkness or the full-blown hilarity I was hoping for.
The SHEEP DETECTIVES was theatrically released in the United States on 8 May 2026.
