Conclave (2024) Cast
Focus Features | Thriller Drama | 120 minutes | Directed by Edward Berger
Conclave is a taut Vatican thriller set in the days following the death of a Pope, when the most powerful Cardinals of the Catholic Church gather in secrecy to elect his successor. Directed by Edward Berger and based on Robert Harris's bestselling 2016 novel, with a screenplay by Peter Straughan, the film follows Cardinal Thomas Lawrence as he presides over an election that rapidly descends into a storm of scandal, hidden sins, and dangerous revelation. Part political procedural, part moral mystery, Conclave examines what it means to hold faith — in God, in institutions, and in one another — when every candidate conceals something.
The Conclave cast is a master class in restrained, intelligent ensemble acting. Ralph Fiennes leads as Cardinal Lawrence, an Englishman of deep conscience tasked with running an election he is not sure he believes in, and his performance is the still centre around which the film's competing ambitions and anxieties orbit. Director Edward Berger, working with one of the strongest casts assembled for a prestige thriller in recent years, drew career-best work from Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, and Sergio Castellitto as three very different Cardinals — each representing a distinct vision of what the Church should be. Isabella Rossellini brings authoritative grace to the film's most significant female role, while relative newcomer Carlos Diehz delivers one of the most discussed performances of 2024 in the pivotal role of Cardinal Benitez. The Conclave cast earned the film nominations across the major awards bodies, with the ensemble praised collectively by critics as much as any individual performance.
Main Cast
Ralph Fiennes
Cardinal Thomas Lawrence
The Dean of the College of Cardinals and the film's moral anchor. Lawrence is charged with managing the papal election even as his own faith wavers, and the conclave's mounting revelations test his capacity for both justice and mercy in equal measure.
Stanley Tucci
Cardinal Aldo Bellini
A progressive, reform-minded Italian Cardinal and a personal friend of Lawrence's, who enters the conclave as one of the leading candidates for the papacy. Bellini is intelligent, worldly, and quietly conflicted — a man of the Church who has seen enough to doubt its institutions.
John Lithgow
Cardinal Joseph Tremblay
An American Cardinal whose affable, populist manner conceals a fierce political ambition. Tremblay is a skilled operator who has spent years cultivating the relationships and the image he believes will carry him to the throne of Saint Peter, but the conclave forces old secrets into the light.
Sergio Castellitto
Cardinal Goffredo Tedesco
A fiercely traditionalist Italian Cardinal who leads the reactionary faction within the conclave, campaigning for a Church that turns decisively back toward doctrinal rigidity. Castellitto plays Tedesco with full-throated conviction, making him a genuinely formidable antagonist.
Isabella Rossellini
Sister Agnes
The head of the sisterhood of nuns who serve the Cardinals during the conclave, Sister Agnes is a careful observer of the men around her — far more perceptive and consequential to the election's outcome than her role officially permits. Rossellini brings immense authority to every scene she inhabits.
Lucian Msamati
Cardinal Adeyemi
A Nigerian Cardinal who initially stands as the frontrunner in the early voting rounds, representing a historic possibility for the Church. His candidacy is undone by a devastating personal revelation — one of the film's most carefully handled plot turns.
Carlos Diehz
Cardinal Vincent Benitez
A surprise late arrival to the conclave — a Cardinal appointed secretly by the late Pope and unknown to the other electors. Benitez's quiet, unassuming presence and his past ministry in conflict zones give him a moral authority that grows steadily more significant as the election destabilises. Diehz's performance is the film's most discussed revelation.
Brían F. O'Byrne
Father Devine
A trusted aide within the Vatican hierarchy whose presence throughout the conclave serves as a link between the enclosed world of the electors and the information that flows — and occasionally erupts — from the wider institutional church. O'Byrne brings careful precision to a role that is more pivotal than it first appears.
Supporting & Recurring Cast
| Actor | Character | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ralph Fiennes | Cardinal Thomas Lawrence | Dean of the College of Cardinals; lead protagonist | Lead performance; received BAFTA and SAG nominations |
| Stanley Tucci | Cardinal Aldo Bellini | Progressive leading papal candidate | Supporting lead throughout the film |
| John Lithgow | Cardinal Joseph Tremblay | Ambitious American Cardinal | Key supporting role; central to the film's thriller plot |
| Sergio Castellitto | Cardinal Goffredo Tedesco | Traditionalist faction leader | Key supporting role representing conservative wing |
| Isabella Rossellini | Sister Agnes | Head of the serving sisterhood | Featured supporting role; received awards attention |
| Lucian Msamati | Cardinal Adeyemi | Nigerian frontrunner Cardinal | Featured supporting role; central to pivotal revelation |
| Carlos Diehz | Cardinal Vincent Benitez | The secret Pope-appointed Cardinal | Featured supporting role; breakout performance of the film |
| Brían F. O'Byrne | Father Devine | Vatican aide and observer | Featured supporting role throughout |
Creators & Production
Edward Berger
Director. The German filmmaker came to international prominence with his Oscar-winning 2022 adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front. Berger brings the same formal rigour and interest in institutional pressure to Conclave, shooting in real Vatican locations and working closely with production designer Stefania Cella to create an authentic environment of enclosed power.
Peter Straughan
Screenwriter. Straughan, whose previous credits include the BAFTA-winning Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), adapted Robert Harris's novel with considerable fidelity to its procedural structure while sharpening the film's final revelations for maximum cinematic impact. His screenplay was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Robert Harris
Source Novel. Harris's 2016 thriller Conclave provided the source material for the film. The British novelist is known for his meticulously researched political thrillers, and his deep knowledge of Vatican history and procedure gives the story its procedural credibility.
Stéphane Fontaine
Cinematographer. Fontaine shot Conclave with a palette of cool, institutional light — marble corridors, candle-lit chapels, and the peculiar fluorescent glare of the Sistine Chapel beneath a false ceiling. His work gives the film a visual authority that supports the story's sense of sealed, pressurised space.
Focus Features
Production and Distribution. Focus Features, the specialty arm of Universal Pictures, produced and distributed Conclave in North America, releasing it on October 25, 2024. The film became one of the most awards-nominated titles of that year's season.
Volker Bertelmann
Composer. Bertelmann, who won the Academy Award for Best Original Score for All Quiet on the Western Front, reunited with director Berger to score Conclave. His score makes striking use of choral textures and dissonant strings to evoke spiritual unease beneath the film's controlled surface.
About the Conclave Cast
The Conclave cast was assembled with the kind of care that reflects a production aware it was working in an unusual genre space — a political thriller in which every actor is dressed in identical clerical robes, and where the drama must be communicated almost entirely through dialogue, implication, and the smallest shifts of expression. Ralph Fiennes has rarely been so effectively deployed: his Cardinal Lawrence is a man of genuine intellectual depth who is not quite sure he still believes what his office requires him to profess, and Fiennes makes this internal uncertainty almost physically palpable without ever tipping into melodrama. The script gives him a series of one-on-one conversations with each of the other principal Cardinals, and these scenes are the engine of the film — almost theatrical in their construction, demanding absolute precision from everyone involved.
The casting of Isabella Rossellini as Sister Agnes deserves particular mention. Her role is the most significant female part in a film otherwise populated almost entirely by men, and Rossellini — the daughter of Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini — brings a lived gravitas to the character that no amount of casting could manufacture. Her scenes with Fiennes have an ease and a mutual weight that suggests two actors who understand immediately what each other is doing. Carlos Diehz, making his first major film appearance as the mysterious Cardinal Benitez, was perhaps the casting decision that attracted the most scepticism before release and the most admiration after it. His stillness and sincerity in a role that requires the audience to be uncertain about the character's nature until very late in the film represents a remarkable debut performance. Lucian Msamati, best known to television audiences from Game of Thrones and Patrick Melrose, is equally impressive, bringing a wounded, complicated dignity to Cardinal Adeyemi that makes his character's fall genuinely affecting rather than merely plot-functional.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who stars in Conclave?
Conclave stars Ralph Fiennes as Cardinal Thomas Lawrence, with Stanley Tucci as Cardinal Aldo Bellini, John Lithgow as Cardinal Joseph Tremblay, Sergio Castellitto as Cardinal Goffredo Tedesco, Isabella Rossellini as Sister Agnes, Lucian Msamati as Cardinal Adeyemi, and Carlos Diehz as Cardinal Vincent Benitez.
Who plays Cardinal Lawrence in Conclave?
Ralph Fiennes plays Cardinal Thomas Lawrence, the Dean of the College of Cardinals who oversees the papal election, in Conclave. Fiennes received widespread critical acclaim for his restrained, nuanced portrayal of a man of faith wrestling with profound institutional doubt.
Who directed Conclave?
Conclave was directed by Edward Berger, the German filmmaker best known for his Oscar-winning 2022 war film All Quiet on the Western Front. Berger adapted Robert Harris's 2016 novel of the same name, with a screenplay by Peter Straughan.
Is Conclave based on a book?
Yes. Conclave is based on Robert Harris's 2016 thriller novel of the same name. The screenplay was written by Peter Straughan, who adapted Harris's tightly plotted story of intrigue, ambition, and revelation during a Vatican papal election.
When was Conclave released?
Conclave was released in the United States on October 25, 2024, by Focus Features. The film had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival in August 2024 and received strong critical acclaim, earning multiple Academy Award nominations.
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