Sean Bean's "Ferocious" Drama That Brought An Acting Legend Out Of Retirement Is An HBO Max Hit

Credit: Ian West/PA Images/INSTARimages Published Sep 7, 2026, 2:22 PM EDT Adam Bentz is a senior news writer at ScreenRant, where he has authored nearly 5,000 articles, including features and lists. He studied creative writing and English with a concentration in screenwriting at Southern New Hampshire University and interned as a writer/journalist for The Borgen Project, an influential organization that fights global poverty. However, one of his proudest achievements is editing a Leonardo DiCaprio freakout compilation that has over 150K views on YouTube. Adam also fancies himself an amateur film critic on his personal website. Sean Bean is best known for his roles in the fantasy genre, playing the tragic Boromir in The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001–2003) and the honorable Ned Stark in Game of Thrones (2011). Otherwise, he has appeared in movies such as Patriot Games (1992), GoldenEye (1995), Ronin (1998), Equilibrium (2002), National Treasure (2004), Troy (2004), and The Martian (2015). Now, his "ferocious" psychological drama that brought an acting legend out of retirement has become a hit on HBO Max. That "ferocious" drama is Anemone, starring Sean Bean and the legendary Daniel Day-Lewis as brothers, the former of whom ventures deep into the woods to reunite with his estranged sibling, a reclusive hermit haunted by a complicated shared history and life-altering events from decades earlier. Now, a year after its release, Anemone is No. 10 on HBO Max's Top 10 movies in the world for today, September 7. Why Anemone Is Now Trending On HBO Max's Global Top 10 Maria Lax/Focus Features While Anemone isn't available on HBO Max in the United States (it is streaming on Netflix), it ranks on HBO Max's Top 10 movies today in a total of 20 countries located in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Central America – including Argentina, Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, El Salvador, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Anemone is trending on HBO Max's Global Top 10 due to a variety of factors, likely because it was just made available for streaming internationally, in addition to the massive star power driving the project. The Film Marked A Rare Retirement Return For An Oscar-Winning Legend Daniel Day-Lewis, one of the greatest actors of all time known for his intense method acting, is a three-time Oscar winner for My Left Foot (1989), There Will Be Blood (2007), and Lincoln (2012). However, following his sixth Oscar nomination for Phantom Thread (2017), Day-Lewis announced his retirement, citing the heavy mental and emotional toll of his intense method acting. However, Day-Lewis came out of retirement to star in Anemone, which marked the directorial debut of his son, Ronan Day-Lewis, with whom he also co-wrote the screenplay. While the movie marked the historic return of the legendary, three-time Oscar winner after his well-publicized retirement, Anemone was met with less fanfare than it deserved. Anemone was met with mixed reviews, resulting in a 52% Rotten Tomatoes score, where its "Critics Consensus" claims that it brings Day-Lewis back "to the screen with all his ferocious talent intact," though it "succeeds more as a showcase for its star's evergreen magnetism and debut director Ronan Day-Lewis' stylistic flair than as a cohesive drama." At the box office, the movie made only $1 million against its $14 million budget. While Anemone may not have gotten the attention it deserved when it first hit theaters, it's nice to see that Day-Lewis' return to acting is finally finding a global audience on HBO Max. Release Date October 10, 2025 Runtime 125 minutes Director Bobby Ciasulli Writers Daniel Day-Lewis, Ronan Day-Lewis Producers Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner Cast Daniel Day-Lewis Ray Stoker