Richard Linklater and Ethan Hawke’s Next Is A Hangout Film: What Was Transcendentalist Movement? Explained

Richard Linklater fans know exactly what they’re in for when a new project arrives. He is the director who turned casual conversations and everyday life into some of the most beloved films of the last three decades. From the loopy wanderings of Slacker to the smoky nostalgia of Dazed and Confused, from the intimate love of the Before trilogy to the raucous college party energy of Everybody Wants Some!!, Linklater has made a career of films that feel like moments you want to live inside.

Now his longtime collaborator Ethan Hawke says their next movie will do just that: it will be a hangout film set among real historical figures from the 1840s transcendentalist movement. Based on comments from Hawke and reporting on the project, this may be the most unexpected Linklater hangout yet — part history lesson, part philosophical campfire.

The Hangout Filmmaker

Linklater has always made movies that feel like spending time with interesting friends, and that is part of his signature. In Slacker, we drift through Austin, Texas, from one quirky personality to the next. In Dazed and Confused, we float through the last day of school in 1976, meeting seniors, freshmen, future rock stars, and strangers who feel like old pals. The Before trilogy captures real-time intimacy, with characters talking their way into our hearts and minds as the sun rises over European cities. Everybody Wants Some!! feels like a weekend with people you wish you knew in college.

These films do not rely on spectacle. They rely on people and conversations so alive you can almost hear them continue after the credits roll. Linklater makes hanging out feel serious and loose at the same time, joyful but purposeful.

Hawke’s Big Praise For The Next Film

Ethan Hawke, who has worked with Linklater on multiple films, including the Before series and Boyhood, is putting big energy behind this next project. He said what they are building might be “among the greatest films ever made.” That is huge praise from someone who has been part of some of Linklater’s most powerful works.

According to reports, the film will shoot in 2026 and explore the lives of thinkers like Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller and Henry David Thoreau. These are figures best known from history books, not blockbuster cinema. Linklater reportedly described the group as “the hippies of the 1830s and 40s,” highlighting their rebellious spirit, curiosity and outsider energy. Rumors about casting include Oscar Isaac and Natalie Portman alongside Hawke, although official confirmation on casting and title is still pending.

What Is A Hangout Film Anyway?

A hangout film is exactly what it sounds like: a movie that feels like hanging out. The plot may not drive forward with explosions, twists or epic showdowns. Instead, the focus is on people interacting, talking, thinking, reflecting, living. Linklater does this better than almost anyone. His films often unfold like you are spending time with actual human beings, absorbing the textures of life that rarely make it into mainstream cinema.

So if you imagine Linklater hanging out with Emerson, Thoreau and Fuller, you might already be getting a sense of something both gentle and electric. Expect lots of dialogue, playful thought, introspection, maybe walks through woods, long breakfasts, nightly fireside chats. Whether this sounds niche or terrific likely depends on how much you love intelligent conversation and philosophy. But in the hands of Linklater and Hawke, even abstract ideas become living, breathing characters.

The Real Transcendentalists

To understand what Linklater’s next movie might feel like, it helps to know who the transcendentalists were. Transcendentalism was a philosophical and literary movement that emerged in the early nineteenth century in New England in the United States. It grows out of thinkers who believed that the individual and nature were inherently good, and that society and its institutions often weakened that goodness.

At the core of transcendentalist thought are ideas like self-reliance, the primacy of intuition over reason, and a profound connection between humans and nature. They trusted that divine truths could be found in everyday life, not just in textbooks or tradition. Emerson, often seen as the movement’s leading voice, argued that people should trust their own inner moral compass. Thoreau lived these ideas literally by choosing to spend time alone at Walden Pond, writing and observing life as it came. Other figures like Margaret Fuller brought feminist thinking and cultural critique to the mix.

The movement was more than just a bunch of smart people talking in walking sticks and ruffled shirts. They challenged religious orthodoxy, experimented with communal living, embraced social reforms like worker rights and women’s equality, and sought deeper spiritual meaning beyond religious dogma.

Why 1840s America Seems So Different But So Familiar

At first glance, the 1840s might feel like another world. There were no smartphones, no internet, and getting mail took days or weeks. But at its heart, this moment was alive with the same human questions we grapple with today: how to be free, how to find meaning, how to live authentically. These thinkers were reacting to a society that valued conformity, hierarchy, and tradition. They asked whether individuals could be more, feel more, think more. That makes their world surprisingly relatable.

If the film follows the spirit of Linklater’s other hangouts, it will not simply tell the viewer what happened. It will let them feel it, taste it, and wrestle with it alongside its characters.

What To Expect From This Film

The current details are still limited, and Linklater has not announced a title or release date. But here is what we know:

• The story will center on major transcendentalist figures, capturing their ideas as lived experiences, not lectures.
• Ethan Hawke will be part of the cast, likely as Emerson, with Natalie Portman and Oscar Isaac also linked to key roles.
• Filming is expected in 2026.
• The tone will lean into the hangout vibe Linklater fans love, but with historical richness and philosophical depth.

Linklater’s films have always been about presence and humanity: how we talk, think, move, and connect. This next project might feel like a conversation with history itself, a summer night spent with brilliant minds whose thoughts still reverberate today.

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