Goodbye June Drops Soon: Release Date, Cast, Plot, And Everything To Know
Oscar winner Kate Winslet makes her directing debut with Goodbye June, a Christmas-set family drama about four adult siblings facing their mother’s final days. Arriving in select theaters just before the holidays before streaming, it’s primed to be the season’s heartfelt tearjerker.
Kate Winslet is making her first run behind the camera with a Christmas family drama called 'Goodbye June' — and yes, she is also in it. Think messy siblings, a dying parent, and that awkward mix of laughter, denial, and ugly-crying that December tends to bring out. If you live for complicated holiday stories, this one is very much aiming for your tear ducts.
Release plan
'Goodbye June' will roll out in a limited number of theaters in the U.K. and U.S. on December 12, 2025, then land on Netflix just in time for couch-viewing on December 24, 2025. Netflix has already dropped a trailer, and it leans into raw, talk-about-your-feelings honesty with flashes of gallows humor and the kind of heartbreak that sneaks up on you.
What it is
The setup is simple and brutal: as Christmas closes in, the family matriarch, June, takes a sharp turn for the worse. She is hospitalized, and the four adult children are pulled back into each other’s orbit, along with their dad, whether they are ready for it or not. Old wounds resurface, loyalties get tested, and everyone starts grappling with what they will carry forward once June is gone. The story is framed as bittersweet and a little chaotic by design — equal parts love, grief, and reconciliation — with June holding court to the end using sharp humor, blunt truths, and a lot of affection.
Winslet has said the film draws from her experience losing her mother in 2017, which tracks with the tone: it wants to feel lived-in, funny in the uncomfortable ways families are, and grounded enough to sting.
Who is doing what
- Title: Goodbye June
- Director: Kate Winslet (her feature directorial debut)
- Writer: Joe Anders (Winslet’s son), inspired by the family’s real-life loss in 2017
- Cast: Helen Mirren as June; Toni Collette, Andrea Riseborough, Johnny Flynn, and Kate Winslet as the adult siblings; Timothy Spall as their father, Bernie; plus Stephen Merchant, Fisayo Akinade, Jeremy Swift, and Raza Jaffrey
- Release dates: Theaters in the U.K. and U.S. on Dec 12, 2025; Netflix on Dec 24, 2025
- Language: English
- Producers: Kate Winslet and Kate Solomon
- Production company: 55 Jugglers
- Distributor: Netflix
- Cinematography: Alwin H. Küchler
- Editor: Lucia Zucchetti
- Score: Ben Harlan
- Genre: Drama with a holiday backdrop
- Premise in one line: Four siblings reunite as their mother’s health fails over the holidays, forcing a reckoning with the past and each other
Bottom line
Between Winslet directing herself for the first time and Helen Mirren anchoring the title role, this has serious end-of-year energy. The trailer suggests a bruising but cathartic watch — the kind that lets you laugh through the lump in your throat. Circle Dec 12 if you want the big-screen version, or Dec 24 if you are saving your emotions for the sofa.