The Trailer For 'Yesterday' Imagines A World Where The Beatles Never Existed

No other music group has impacted modern pop music like The Beatles. The band has influenced countless artists and given the world a long list of hummable, memorable hit songs. But what would the music scene look like if they never existed at all? The upcoming movie Yesterday will attempt to answer that question. The Yesterday trailer offers a look at a world where no one knows of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, or Ringo Starr. No one knows any of their songbook – except for one struggling singer-songwriter.

In Yesterday, Jack Malick (Himesh Patel) wakes up from an accident to discover that he now lives in a world where all knowledge of The Beatles, their music, and their legacy has been erased. But, Jack still has the memory of the iconic foursome's entire catalog of songs, and those songs are still bops. So, Jack is able to sing those bops and take credit for the hits they become. The trailer shows a bizarro world that's filled with absurdist laughs, but also highlights just how important The Beatles are to the world. You can watch the trailer below:

In addition to Patel, Yesterday is filled with familiar faces. Jack's childhood friend (and possible love interest) Ellie is played by Lily James, who recently played young Donna in Mamma Mia 2. SNL's Kate McKinnon plays Jack's Hollywood agent, who seemingly makes him a star once his Beatles-penned songs take off in popularity.

The movie also has some folks in the entertainment biz playing themselves, which only adds to the eeriness of this odd alternate universe. In the trailer, Jack appears on The Late Late Show with James Corden, and James Corden himself appears to interview the character. Also, Ed Sheeran plays a really big part in the movie as himself. Sheeran talked about his role in Yesterday with the AP, revealing that he discovers Jack in the movie. He went on to say, "Then he gets much, much bigger than me through doing stuff. Yeah, it’s very clever. I got to actually kind of learn how to act." Sheeran previously appeared on an episode of Game of Thrones, so it's excited to see him continuing to pursue this new side of his career with a big screen role.

The trailer also shows Sheeran being teased about his rapping abilities (or lack thereof) and suggesting that Jack change "Hey Jude" to "Hey Dude," so he definitely also shows off his sense of humor in the movie.

Yesterday is directed by Danny Boyle, who previously won an Oscar for directing Slumdog Millionaire. It's written by Richard Curtis, who penned classic British rom-coms like Four Weddings and Funeral, Notting Hill, and Love Actually. These two creators are demonstrated experts at bringing romance and humor to the big screen, so there are definitely some high hopes for their work on Yesterday. We already know that, at the very least, the movie's soundtrack is guaranteed to be full of familiar Beatles classics.

You can see how the world reacts to hearing The Beatles hit songbook for the first time when Yesterday opens in theaters on June 28.