Anthony Mackie is heading back to Broadway after a 16-year absence, taking on the title role in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth in spring 2027.
The Juilliard-trained actor will play the Thane of Cawdor in a New York transfer of director Max Webster’s London production. Rehearsals are scheduled to begin in February 2027, with previews expected to start in late March or early April. The limited run will continue through July at a Broadway theater that has not yet been announced.
“I started as a theater kid,” Mackie said. “And doing theater was my passion since I was seven years old. And you know, now being able to do it at this level in this space, not too many people can say they did Macbeth on Broadway.”
A celebrated London production heads to New York
Webster, a Tony and Olivier Award-nominated director whose credits include Henry V, first staged this version of Macbeth at London’s Donmar Warehouse in late 2023. David Tennant and Cush Jumbo played Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. The production subsequently transferred to the Harold Pinter Theatre for a sold-out 11-week West End season.
Its staging makes extensive use of sound created by Tony and Olivier Award-winning audio designer Gareth Fry, whose credits include Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Audience members wear headphones as the performers speak into microphones, creating a binaural listening experience.
“The microphones and the sound aspect of it is interesting because you in the audience can hear everything, you can hear every whisper, you can feel every emotion,” Mackie said. “So instead of having to project to the back of the house, the house comes to the stage.”
Webster and the production’s casting directors are now searching for the actress who will play Lady Macbeth, along with performers for other key roles. Mackie said he believes it will be “an all-American cast.”
Mackie prepares for a demanding return
Mackie last appeared on Broadway 16 years ago in Martin McDonagh’s A Behanding in Spokane, alongside Christopher Walken, Sam Rockwell and Zoe Kazan. John Crowley directed that production.
His first son was born 15 years ago, and Mackie said raising his four sons while living in New Orleans made committing to a New York stage production a major sacrifice. The actor spoke from his New Orleans home and said he believes his children will understand why this particular role was worth returning for.
His renewed appetite for theater developed while he was filming Avengers: Doomsday in London. A conversation with his friend and mentor Wendell Pierce gave him “the itch to get back on stage,” while weekends spent attending London productions further fueled his interest. Mackie also hopes to make his London stage debut “sooner or later.”
For Macbeth, he has turned to drama teacher Richard Feldman, who taught him at Juilliard and whom Mackie has known for 30 years. He has also returned to the voice book and notes he kept from his Juilliard studies in the 1990s, resuming vocal exercises and working to build his weight and air intake.
“Being Captain America, kicking, punching, and flying is one thing, but being on a stage, it is a rigorous beast,” Mackie said. “It’s muscle memory. It’s physical memory. It’s an ordeal, a pleasurable one.”
Mackie sees the tragedy’s focus on unchecked ambition as especially relevant. Describing Macbeth as a once-loyal general whose ambition and paranoia drive him to violence, the actor said ambition remains a common thread across business, technology, sports and other areas of modern life.
“It’s one of those roles that everybody dreams of playing,” he said. “And coming from where I came from and being able to do it on Broadway is kind of a monumental feat, not only in my career, but in my life.”
What Happens Next?
Before rehearsals begin, Mackie has other screen work on his slate. He recently shot Season 3 of Peacock and Sony Pictures Television’s Twisted Metal, in which he stars and serves as an executive producer with his longtime manager, Jason Spires of Inspire Management. He will also appear opposite Jamie Dornan in the heist drama 12 12 12, debuting November 13 on Apple TV.
After the Broadway run ends in July 2027, Mackie plans to complete his remaining Avengers work for Secret Wars, which he described as releasing late next year.
He will first be seen in Avengers: Doomsday, due December 18. Chris Evans appears with him in the movie, but Mackie emphasized that his Sam Wilson remains Captain America. He said Evans is returning as Steve Rogers because the characters face a major opponent, adding that both Rogers and Wilson can fight together as Captain America.
Mackie’s Sam Wilson took up the Captain America mantle from Evans’ Steve Rogers at the end of 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. He later played the character in the Disney+ miniseries The Falcon and the Winter Soldier with Sebastian Stan and led his first full feature in the role with Captain America: Brave New World.