Andrew Scott, best known as the “Hot Priest” of “Fleabag,” looks poised to be one of next year’s Oscars frontrunners thanks to a chilling new performance.

Viewers got their first look at “Elsinore,” which hits theaters Nov. 20, in a new trailer released this week. The film stars Scott as late Scottish actor Ian Charleson, who died of AIDS-related causes in 1990 at age 40.

Though audiences are most likely to remember Charleson from 1981’s “Chariots of Fire,” among other big-screen films, “Elsinore” follows the actor in the last year of his life, as he’s gearing up to tackle the title role in “Hamlet,” in what will become his final theatrical performance.

In addition to Scott, the film stars Olivia Colman as Charleson’s doctor, Margaret Johnson, and Billie Piper as casting director Patsy Pollock, who cared for Charleson in his last days.

Written by Stephen Beresford and directed by Simon Stone, “Elsinore” had its world premiere earlier this month at Colorado’s Telluride Film Festival, followed by a well-received showing at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Critics were quick to hail Scott as “an emotional powerhouse” and “astonishing” in the role, with New York Magazine’s Vulture blog calling it his “best performance yet” and numerous outlets placing him on their lists of prospective contenders for next year’s Academy Awards.

For many of Scott’s fans, that acclaim is long overdue, as his failure to secure an Oscar nomination for his heart-wrenching turn alongside Paul Mescal in the 2023 romantic drama “All of Us Strangers” was widely deemed a snub.

And if Scott, who is gay, receives an Academy Award nomination for “Elsinore,” he could be on the path to making history as the first openly gay man to win an Oscar for Best Actor, as Variety pointed out.

In an interview following the film’s screening in Toronto, Scott said the opportunity to portray Charleson felt “incredibly personal,” telling Variety: “It’s set in the theater and about the representation of gay actors in the ’90s, and it’s about family. So many things that I really relate to.”

And while “Elsinore” has been touted as a tearjerker, Scott hopes viewers will not interpret Charleson’s story as a tragedy.

“The man that I play was an incredibly funny, charismatic, life-loving person, and so I think what we wanted to do is to celebrate his life,” he told Deadline this month. “He absolutely made this decision because he wanted to live life right to the very end ... the most important thing was for me to capture his spirit.”

View the “Elsinore” trailer here.

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