Published May 9, 2026, 8:08 AM EDT
The Sheep Detectives might sound like one of the more unconventional films of 2026, but the surprise critical hit about a flock of sheep investigating the murder of their shepherd (Hugh Jackman) has clearly struck a much deeper chord. With audiences already embracing the film and its 95% Rotten Tomatoes score reinforcing its natural charm, Amazon MGM Studios’ latest murder-mystery-comedy proves there’s more to this herd than some one-liners and a very cute whodunit setup.
For Nicholas Braun, that was kind of the point. The Succession alum, who plays small-town officer Tim Derry, told Collider in Toronto, Canada, on April 20, that the movie hit him hard enough to change how he sees sheep — and, apparently, lamb chops. “You just saw these sheep, and they feel like people,” Braun says. “You feel for them so much, and it’s such a moving story, and you love these sheep so much, it makes no sense for me to put a rack of lamb in front of myself.”
That mix of goofy and oddly sincere is exactly what makes The Sheep Detectives work. Braun’s Tim starts as a lonely cop, and nobody — including an all-star cast from the likes of Emma Thompson, Molly Gordon, and Nicholas Galitzine — takes him seriously. But as he told us, “the flock is who takes him in, eventually, and believes in him, and makes him believe in himself.” The flock includes the voice talents of Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Chris O’Dowd, Bryan Cranston, Sir Patrick Stewart, and many more.
In a conversation with Collider, Braun reflects on why the film is connecting with audiences, how Tim becomes “the winter lamb of the town,” and why he’d happily come back for a sequel of more sheep chaos: “Playing Tim is a blast, so, if people want that, hopefully that happens.” And because no sheep interview should end too seriously, we also put Braun’s flock knowledge to the test with a very silly, very educational round of “Shear Fact or Sheer Fiction.”
The Sheep Detectives is now playing in theatres.
English (US) ·