Before House Of The Dragon, Oli
Despite the fact Olivia Cooke wasn’t even sure she wanted the role, she remains best known for playing Alicent Hightower in the “Game of Thrones” spin-off “House of the Dragon.” She’s also recently returned as Sid Baker on “Slow Horses” following the character’s apparent death back in Season 1. But before she appeared on either of those successful series, Cooke starred opposite James Bond hopeful and fellow rising star Jack O’Connell in a sci-fi drama that will, to be quite honest, leave you distraught.
“Little Fish” is the story of a couple who suddenly have to fight to preserve their love when one is afflicted by a virus that attacks people’s memory. The film was directed by Irish-American filmmaker Chad Hartigan, who began his directing career with 2008’s “Luke and Brie Are on a First Date” before making “This is Martin Bonner” and “Morris From America” — all of which Hartigan also wrote, and all of which received positive reviews. In 2019, Hartigan teamed up with writer Mattson Tomlin for his fourth feature.
“Little Fish” is based on the 2011 short story of the same name by Aja Gabel, which can be read in its entirety over on Phoebe Journal. The film was shot in 2019 ahead of a scheduled debut at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival. But after the festival was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, IFC Films eventually released “Little Fish” in theaters in February 2021. Had it been screened at Tribeca there might have been a bigger buzz for a movie that, judging by the critical reaction, deserved much more attention than it got. But in a way, a film about a pandemic being postponed by a global pandemic was sort of apt — and, as several critics noted, actually lent the story some extra power.
Olistory in Little Fish
Today, Mattson Tomlin is known as the co-writer of the upcoming “The Batman: Part II” and for producing, developing, and writing the gorgeous, gruesome Netflix anime “Terminator Zero.” In 2019, however, he turned his attention to adapting Aja Gabel’s “Little Fish,” which he has since described (via X/Twitter) as his “favorite professional experience.” Tomlin actually worked alongside Olivia Cooke to adapt the story, with the British actor telling Naomi Scott during an Interview Magazine discussion, “I’d read the short story by Aja Gabel, we optioned the rights to it, and me and the writer, Mattson, had been workshopping it for two years before we filmed it.”
When they did come to film it, Cooke also starred in the film as Emma Ryerson opposite Jack O’Connell (who played the main villain Remmick in “Sinners”) as her husband, Jude Williams. “Little Fish” takes place in a near-future Seattle amidst a global pandemic, where a virus that causes people to lose their memories has brought society close to collapse. But rather than focusing on the societal effects of the virus, the film is really concerned with the story of Cooke and O’Connell’s newlyweds, who find themselves battling to preserve their bond when Jude is afflicted with the virus.
While the premise must have seemed fairly speculative at the time, once the COVID-19 pandemic hit “Little Fish” quickly felt much less like a sci-fi romantic drama and more like a strikingly realistic love story with a remarkable prescience. Regardless, it is easily one of Oliggest, might even be her finest moment
Little Fish had a big impact on critics
Following three well-received films, “Little Fish” represented yet another critical triumph for Chad Hartigan. At the time of writing, the film maintains a 91% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, with Joe Morgenstern of the Wall Street Journal calling it “stirring” and praising its exploration of memory and “its fragility, its wondrousness, its centrality to our existence as sentient beings.” The San Jose Mercury News‘ Randy Myers commended the “devoted acting” and “touching screenplay,” while Christy Lemire of RogerEbert.com gave the film three out of four stars and noted how its debut amid a global pandemic “adds a layer of poignancy” to the story. Lemire seemed genuinely moved by the film, which as she put it, “leaves an unshakable impression that the people we love have the power to connect us with who we are and what matters to us in ways that cannot be broken.”
Over on Letterboxd, “Little Fish” has similarly stellar reviews, and as of September 2026, has made the site’s Top 500 Films list. Chad Hartigan even stopped by the movie’s reviews page to express his gratitude after the film’s initial release was scuppered by the global pandemic. “For a while, we weren’t sure if we could release the movie at all,” he wrote. “I just wanted to say that it warms my little heart to know that [the film has] proved a cathartic and rewarding watch for so many of you.”
If you’re intrigued and wouldn’t mind watching what might very well be one of the saddest movies of all time, “Little Fish” is available on Sundance Now, which offers a seven-day free trialt of the usual platforms
