Tenzing review: Peedom restores Sherpa climber to 1953 Everest summit

On 9 October 2026, The Guardian reviewed Jennifer Peedom's Tenzing as "a well intentioned, watchable, if sometimes soft-edged film with some NatGeo production values and greenscreen jeopardy on high mountain peaks." The Apple TV+ feature places Nepalese-Indian mountaineer Tenzing Norgay at the centre of the 1953 Mount Everest ascent — a story that was, the reviewer notes, "resoundingly claimed for Hillary and the British empire" at the time.

Written by Luke Davies, the film stars Tom Hiddleston as New Zealander Edmund Hillary, Tibetan actor Genden Phuntsok as Tenzing, and Willem Dafoe in a supporting role.

What does the film change about the 1953 story?

Peedom and Davies share "the decent aim of restoring Tenzing's achievement to the centre of the narrative," the reviewer writes. The original press coverage framed the summit as:

• A redemption of Captain Scott's Antarctic ordeal 41 years earlier
• A sign of divine approval ahead of the imminent coronation of Queen Elizabeth II
• A triumph for the British expedition

The filmmakers place Tenzing — "a former Sherpa guide whose unparalleled knowledge of the mountain and exemplary climbing skills earned him promotion to full team member" — at the centre of the narrative, reversing a hierarchy that has held for seventy years.

How do the performances land?

Phuntsok anchors the picture. The reviewer praises his "charm and innocence" as Tenzing, qualities that frame the Sherpa as the moral centre of the climb. Hiddleston, by contrast, plays Hillary as "suitably frank" and "robustly portrayed," a blunter, less sentimental figure than screen history has often allowed.

The reviewed excerpt does not specify Dafoe's part; the film's Apple TV+ listing places him in the cast alongside Hiddleston and Phuntsok.

What does the production register signal?

The reviewer pegs the visual style as "NatGeo production values": greenscreen peaks rather than location shooting, a digital score, and the soft-edged palette familiar from prestige television. The result reads closer to a streaming-historical than to theatrical adventure — a deliberate register for a global Apple TV+ subscriber audience rather than a festival or IMAX release.

What is the critical takeaway?

Peedom and Davies have built a feature whose stated purpose is restoration, not reinvention. Tenzing will be measured less on its mountain sequences than on whether the dramatic centralisation of Tenzing Norgay holds against six decades of opposite framing. Whether subscribers and arthouse distributors back a Sherpa-led Everest will be the next test of that recalibration.