Daisy Edgar-Jones and Emilia Jones are set to lead Bad Bridgets, a period revenge thriller from Kneecap filmmaker Rich Peppiatt, with international sales launching at the American Film Market. The project is being produced by LuckyChap alongside Peppiatt’s Coup d’État banner, with plans to shoot in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in spring 2026. The film follows an Irish woman whose path takes her from home to 19th-century New York, where she crosses into a shadow world shaped by prejudice, poverty, and female survival.
The film draws inspiration from the Bad Bridget research project, podcast, and book by historians Elaine Farrell and Leanne McCormick, which documented how Irish immigrant women were disproportionately jailed in North American cities and were frequently portrayed in the era’s courts and newspapers through caricature and moral panic. The source material assembled archival cases of theft, sex work charges, public-order offenses, and sensational trials, offering a social history of migration, gender, and power. Framing the movie around this record signals a focus on marginalized women often written out of mainstream narratives about the Irish diaspora.
Packaging indicates a project positioned for marketplace visibility. AFM buyers are being briefed on a character-driven thriller anchored by two rising British leads with recent studio and awards exposure, while sales are being handled by a major independent player known for festival-caliber titles. The combination of a revenge framework and documented social history gives the film a commercial hook with period detail, while production in Ireland aligns with a well-developed crew base and incentives that have supported recent international films.
Industry attention has centered on Peppiatt’s shift from Kneecap’s breakout profile to a larger-canvas historical piece and on LuckyChap’s continued push into female-forward stories. Local outlets also highlight the homecoming element for Edgar-Jones, whose breakout in Normal People was filmed in Ireland, and note that the schedule’s 2026 window provides runway for casting additions and financing close. Further announcements are expected as AFM meetings progress and as the production locks dates across Irish locations.
