Vladimir First Look Featuring Rachel Weisz
Netflix has shared a first look at Vladimir, the upcoming eight-episode series starring executive producer Rachel Weisz, Leo Woodall, and John Slattery. Debuting on March 5, 2026, Weisz describes the series as a heightened fairy tale.
When a passionate but reckless professor’s world begins to unravel, she finds herself dangerously fixated on her magnetic new colleague. Seduction and obsession collide in Vladimir—a provocative limited series brimming with forbidden desires, razor-sharp wit, and charismatic, unpredictable characters.
As boundaries blur and secrets simmer, she’ll risk everything to bring her most scandalous fantasies to life. Based on the acclaimed novel by Julia May Jonas.
The cast also includes Ellen Robertson, Jessica Henwick, Matt Walsh, Kayli Carter, Miriam Silverman, Mallori Johnson, Tattiawna Jones, and Louise Lambert.
Vladimir “explores what women feel like they’re allowed to desire, and how they’re allowed to desire,” creator, writer, and executive producer Julia May Jonas told the Netflix blog Tudum about the adaptation of her 2022 novel.
When we meet the unnamed protagonist, she’s feeling out of step. Her writing career has stalled, and each semester, fewer people sign up for her once-legendary capstone course. Even her only daughter, Sid (Robertson), keeps her at arm’s length. “She’s relatable because of her insecurities about aging,” said Jonas, “and her fears that as you grow into an older woman, you’re asked to want less, take up less space, be more of service.”
“The series explores themes related to desire, obsession, sexuality, lust. It also delves into the world of campus gender politics and cancel culture,” added Weisz. “[The protagonist’s] fantasy is about the power of desire. The invigorating, stimulating, inspiring, and revivifying feeling that she gets from her obsession with Vlad. What it’s about is coming back to life in a certain way that had lain dormant for some time.”
Vladimir also resuscitates a version of the protagonist’s former self. “It’s that feeling of being so full of creative energy because you have this lust or obsession for someone. Many people have felt that kind of opening [up] — how fun it is to want something,” commented Jonas. “Her mind is going wild. She hasn’t been writing for 15 years, and he breaks her writer’s block.”
The series’ title embodies Vladimir’s playful flipping of the script. “It’s a nod to novels that name themselves after the young woman whom the man is obsessed with,” Jonas continued. “This is the subject of fixation that we’re going to be talking about, and I wanted to flip the script and have it be coming from a woman’s perspective.”
To capture the specific tone of the book’s narrator, Weisz speaks directly to the camera, granting access to the protagonist’s innermost thoughts. Said Weisz, “You have direct access to what the character is thinking and then also what she wants you to think. What she wants you to think is a little distant from the total truth.”
“The show is told through the protagonist’s POV, so a lot of what you see of Vlad is up to interpretation,” said Woodall. “There are a lot of moments where you are supposed to wonder about the intention of that hand touch, or lingering look. ‘Was that flirting? Was it friendliness? Am I making this up? Is it real? Am I crazy?’ It’s for every audience member to interpret.”
Jonas added, “What makes the whole dynamic so fun is she really doesn’t know where she stands with him, and hopefully the audience doesn’t really know either.”
The Vladimir executive producers also include Sharon Horgan, Stacy Greenberg, and Kira Carstensen (Merman), Jason Winer & Jon Radler (Small Dog Picture Company), Shari Springer Berman, and Robert Pulcini.
Filming on location in Toronto, the 20th Television series was directed by Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini (101, 102), Francesca Gregorini (103, 106, 107), and Josephine Bornebusch (104, 105).
