Netflix’s new Nashville mystery has a cast that looks like someone merged an Oscar ceremony with the CMA Awards. There’s an Oscar winner, a Grammy winner, a former Disney Channel heartthrob and a country singer making her first big screen move, all chasing one missing girl through the ugly side of Music City.
If you’ve spent the last hour pausing Heartland to ask “wait, where do I know that guy from?”, this is the page for you. Here’s who plays who, and where you’ve seen them before.
| Movie | Heartland |
| Platform | Netflix |
| Streaming date | November 13, 2026 |
| Writer-director | Shana Feste |
| Producers | Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, Randall Poster, Jason Owen |
| Language | English |
| Runtime | 1 hr 54 min |
| Rating | R |
Heartland cast: who plays who
| Actor | Character |
|---|---|
| Jessica Chastain | Misty Jones, a country megastar who walked away from fame |
| Carter Faith | Charlie Heart, Misty’s niece and a rising singer |
| Ross Lynch | Jace, Charlie’s boyfriend |
| Garrett Hedlund | Roy Combs, Charlie’s manager |
| Jennifer Nettles | Winnie Jo Lean |
| John Hawkes | Clark |
| Paul Sparks | Supporting role |
| Wynn Everett | Supporting role |
| Isabelle Kusman | Supporting role |
Jessica Chastain as Misty Jones
Misty Jones was one of the biggest names in country music before she vanished from public life. When her niece Charlie disappears, she comes out of hiding and goes back to Nashville to find her, and walks straight into the industry she ran away from.
Where you’ve seen her: Chastain won the Best Actress Oscar for The Eyes of Tammy Faye and has carried everything from Zero Dark Thirty and Interstellar to The Martian and Molly’s Game. Country fans will know her as Tammy Wynette in the limited series George & Tammy, a role she has called “country-music graduate school.” In other words, she did the homework for this one years ago.
Carter Faith as Charlie Heart
Charlie is the 22-year-old rising star whose disappearance kicks off the whole movie. She’s climbing the same ladder Misty once did, which is exactly why Misty takes it so personally.
Where you’ve seen her: Probably on a playlist rather than a screen. Carter Faith is a real country singer-songwriter who released her debut album, Cherry Valley, in 2025. Casting an actual rising singer as a rising singer is one of the smartest moves in the movie, and it’s why Charlie’s performance scenes feel so lived-in.
Ross Lynch as Jace
Jace is Charlie’s boyfriend, a musician with a guitar, a trucker cap and enough charm to make you instantly suspicious. In a missing person story, the boyfriend is always going to get a hard look.
Where you’ve seen him: A whole generation grew up with Ross Lynch as Austin Moon on Disney Channel’s Austin & Ally and as Brady in Teen Beach Movie. He then went darker as Harvey Kinkle in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and played a young Jeffrey Dahmer in My Friend Dahmer. He’s also a working musician, fronting the band The Driver Era with his brother Rocky, so yes, that’s really him singing.
Garrett Hedlund as Roy Combs
Roy is Charlie’s manager, the kind of Nashville operator who always seems to be leaning over a balcony watching everyone else. He knows more about Charlie’s career than anyone, and that puts him on Misty’s list.
Where you’ve seen him: Tron: Legacy, Friday Night Lights, Four Brothers, Mudbound and Triple Frontier. The fun detail is that he also starred in director Shana Feste’s 2010 country drama Country Strong, so Heartland is a Nashville reunion for the two of them.
Jennifer Nettles as Winnie Jo Lean
Where you’ve seen her: If you know country radio, you know her voice. Nettles is the lead singer of Sugarland, with Grammy and CMA wins to her name. TV fans know her as the late matriarch Aimee-Leigh Gemstone in HBO’s The Righteous Gemstones.
John Hawkes as Clark
Where you’ve seen him: Hawkes is one of those actors who makes every scene feel more dangerous. He earned an Oscar nomination for Winter’s Bone, a Golden Globe nomination for The Sessions, and played Sol Star on HBO’s Deadwood.
The rest of the Heartland cast
Paul Sparks was Mickey Doyle on Boardwalk Empire and writer Thomas Yates on House of Cards. Wynn Everett played the villain Whitney Frost in Marvel’s Agent Carter and has recurring parts in Sweet Magnolias and This Is Us. Isabelle Kusman was recently seen in Netflix’s His & Hers, and musician-actor Ben Dickey, who played songwriter Blaze Foley in Blaze, is also part of the ensemble. Netflix hasn’t detailed most of their characters, so we’ll update this guide as viewers piece it together.
Who made Heartland?
Shana Feste wrote and directed the film, her return to country music territory after Country Strong. It was produced by Peter Chernin and Jenno Topping of Chernin Entertainment, along with music supervisor Randall Poster and Jason Owen. Cameras rolled in fall 2025 at Shadowbox Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, under the working title HTLD, so a lot of that “Nashville” is actually Georgia playing dress-up.
Want to know whether any of this really happened? We break that down in Is Heartland on Netflix based on a true story?
Heartland cast FAQ
Who plays the missing niece in Heartland?
Country singer Carter Faith plays Charlie Heart, Misty Jones’s niece.
Is Ross Lynch in Heartland?
Yes. Ross Lynch plays Jace, Charlie’s boyfriend.
Does Garrett Hedlund play the manager?
Yes. Hedlund plays Roy Combs, Charlie’s manager.
Who directed Heartland?
Shana Feste, who also wrote the script. She previously made Country Strong (2010).
Where was Heartland filmed?
At Shadowbox Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, starting in fall 2025.
How long is Heartland?
1 hour 54 minutes.
Watch the official trailer on YouTube.
