Tenzing(2026)

Name: Tenzing
Director: Jennifer Peedom
Genre: Adventure, Biography, Drama, History, Thriller
Released: Oct 9, 2026
Cast: Willem Dafoe, Tom Hiddleston, Caitríona Balfe, Genden Phuntsok

Apple Original Films

PG
Rated PG for thematic elements, language, smoking and some peril.
2h 8m

Release Date: Oct 9, 2026

In 1953 a British expedition put two men on the summit of Everest, and history remembered one of them. This is the other: a Sherpa born in a valley below the mountain who herded yaks as a boy and climbed it as the lead on the rope. A biographical drama about the man at the front of the party and the account that was written around him.

Release Details

Original Release | Oct 9, 2026 | Limited

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Director & Top Cast

Jennifer Peedom
Director

Willem Dafoe
Colonel John Hunt

Tom Hiddleston
Edmund Hillary

Caitríona Balfe
Jill Henderson

Genden Phuntsok
Tenzing Norgay

Technical Specifications

Sound Mix: Dolby Digital,Dolby Atmos

Other Details

Country of Origin: United Kingdom, Australia, United States

Language: English

Summaries

Plot Summary

Tenzing is a 2026 biographical adventure drama directed by Jennifer Peedom from a screenplay by Luke Davies. Tenzing Norgay (Genden Phuntsok), the Sherpa leader on the 1953 British expedition to Everest, is one of the two lead climbers to reach the summit, and the film traces his rise from a boy herding yaks in a Tibetan valley beneath the mountain to a figure known well enough to count Nehru as a friend.
Tom Hiddleston plays Edmund Hillary, Willem Dafoe plays expedition leader Colonel John Hunt and Caitríona Balfe plays Jill Henderson, with Tenzin Jigmey as Pasang and Thinley Lhamo as Dawa. Liz Watts, Emile Sherman, Iain Canning, Peedom, Davies and Desray Armstrong produced for Apple Studios with India Take One Productions, See-Saw Films and Stranger Than Fiction Films, Norbu Tenzing among the executive producers.
Stefan Duscio shot it, Simon Njoo edited and Rebekka Karijord scored it. Filming began in Nepal in May 2025 around Kathmandu and the Everest region and wrapped in New Zealand on 7 August. It premiered at Telluride on 4 September 2026, played Toronto on 15 September, opened in select US theatres on 9 October and reaches Apple TV on 16 October 2026. Runtime 125 minutes, rated PG.
For viewers who want the summit story told from the front of the rope.