YOUNG WASHINGTON Star Shares What Goes Into Playing an American Legend

Published: May 8, 2026

By Kayla DeKraker

Playing an American icon is a tall order, but YOUNG WASHINGTON star William Franklyn-Miller did his research to make the early life of America’s first president come alive.

“It purely depends on how much you can find online about the character and what he did and stuff,” Franklyn-Miller said of getting into character. “But I think from a 21-year-old perspective, you know, I think I brought that in, and it’s the mentality of a 21-year-old that was quite easy for me to bring in, because I was 21 at the time of filming as well.”

Learning the early American accent, though difficult, also helped the actor embrace Washington. It took a lot of practice and research to get it just right.

“There’s this TV series that was heavily inspired called JOHN ADAMS, which apparently was one of the only TV shows that really got the accent quite right,” Franklyn-Miller explained. “I mean, there’s no real account, so it is up for interpretation. But yeah, we watched a lot of JOHN ADAMS to prepare, and it’s a mixture of, I’d say, Irish, Old English and American. So it’s a weird one.”

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“Before he was the Father of a Nation, he was a soldier fighting to survive,” YOUNG WASHINGTON’s synopsis reads. “A single misstep thrusts young George Washington into the center of a global conflict, testing his honor, loyalty and courage. As alliances crumble and the frontier erupts into war, he must confront not only his enemies but the man he’s becoming. This is the untold story of Young Washington.”

Alongside Franklyn-Miller, the Angel Studios movie stars Mary-Louise Parker as Mary Washington, Kelsey Grammer as Lord Fairfax, Andy Serkis as General Edward Braddock, Sir Ben Kingsley as Robert Dinwiddie and Joel Smallbone as William Fairfax.

Wonder Project’s Jon Erwin directs.

“With this first trailer, audiences are getting their first real look at the scale, emotion and power of YOUNG WASHINGTON,” Brandon Purdie, Angel’s head of theatrical distribution and brand development, said when the trailer released last year. “It captures the tension, courage and humanity of a leader whose formative story has rarely been told on screen. We’re honored to bring this epic to theaters for America’s 250th anniversary and thrilled to see audiences already engaging and securing their seats to experience YOUNG WASHINGTON on the biggest screens possible.”