Netflix has released the first trailer for ‘Vladimir’, the adaptation of Vladimir by Julia May Jonas, and it looks like a deliciously chaotic descent into obsession, ego, and academic scandal.
The eight-episode limited series stars Rachel Weisz (The Favourite) as an unnamed, middle-aged writer and professor whose carefully curated life begins to unravel when a magnetic new colleague arrives on campus. That colleague is Vladimir, played by Leo Woodall (One Day), and let’s just say boundaries become… theoretical.
The trailer leans hard into the show’s tone: darkly comic, slightly unhinged, and knowingly sexy. It is less “campus drama” and more “midlife existential spiral with style.”
A Story of Obsession, From a Woman’s Perspective
The series follows Weisz’s protagonist as she becomes fixated on Vladimir, a fellow writer and professor at the small liberal arts college where she has worked for decades. As her professional and personal life hits turbulence, her fantasies start bleeding into reality.
Jonas, who serves as creator, writer, and executive producer, deliberately flipped the traditional literary script with the title. Rather than centring the objectified young woman, the story puts a woman’s desire and fixation front and centre. It is knowingly playful and sharply satirical about power, academia, and self-delusion.
The show also makes a bold stylistic choice. Weisz frequently breaks the fourth wall, addressing the audience directly. It is a device that pulls the narrator’s internal monologue from the page onto the screen. According to the cast, what she tells us is not always the full truth. It is curated. Adjusted. Human.
In the trailer, those asides feel conspiratorial and funny, as if we are being invited into the character’s rationalisations in real time.
The Cast Around the Chaos
Joining Rachel Weisz and Leo Woodall is John Slattery (Mad Men), who plays the protagonist’s husband, himself stuck in a personal and professional stalemate.
The wider ensemble includes Jessica Henwick (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery), Ellen Robertson (Black Mirror), Kayli Carter (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), Miriam Silverman (Your Friends & Neighbors), Mallori Johnson (Is God Is), Matt Walsh (Veep), Tattiawna Jones (Station Eleven), and Louise Lambert (Ginny & Georgia).
Behind the camera, the Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning duo Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini direct two episodes. Executive producers include Sharon Horgan for Merman, alongside Jason Winer and Jon Radler for Small Dog Picture Company.
From Page to Screen
The original novel was a breakout debut for Julia May Jonas, landing on multiple book-of-the-year lists. Early reactions to the adaptation suggest it keeps the mischievous, incisive tone that made the book stand out, while leaning into the visual possibilities of fantasy sequences and unreliable narration.
The trailer makes one thing clear. This is not a polite prestige drama. It is sharp, messy, self-aware, and more than a little provocative.
‘Vladimir’ premieres Thursday, 5th March 2026, on Netflix.
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