This Bestselling 2022 Novel Is Getting The TV Treatment Next Month

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Julia May Jonas’s debut novel made waves four years ago

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This Bestselling 2022 Novel Is Getting The TV Treatment Next Month

When it hit the shelves in early 2022, American playwright Julia May Jonas’s debut novel was described variously as timely, provocative and razor sharp – and much of that is thanks to the perspective it is told from.

Despite its name, Vladimir centres on M, a popular English professor whose world is thrown into a spin when her husband, and fellow professor, is accused of having inappropriate relationships with his students. Vladimir, meanwhile, is an intriguing new face on their quaint, leafy campus – one who M develops her own obsession with.

Praised by fans of recent provocative titles like All Fours by Miranda July and Big Swiss by Jen Beagin, Vladimir sparked plenty of conversations – and it’s about to spark more. Initially announced in March 2025, Netflix has been working away on a star-studded eight-part adaptation of the novel.

Here’s when Vladimir will land on Netflix – plus everything you need to know before you tune in.

Rachel Weisz as The Protagonist and John Slattery as John in Vladimir

Vladimir TV Series: Plot, Cast, Release Date & More

Not only is The Mummy star Rachel Weisz leading Vladimir, but she has also been working behind the scenes as an executive producer. Adapted for the screen by the author herself, Weisz describes the story as ‘a heightened fairytale’, featuring mischievous fantasies as the protagonist zones out of her stale day-to-day. As the author Julia May Jonas puts it, Vladimir ‘explores what women feel like they’re allowed to desire, and how they’re allowed to desire’. Consider us intrigued. And all of this is heightened by the cabin fever style setting of an everyone-knows-everyone campus.

Also starring John Slattery and Leo Woodall in the leading trio, Vladimir is being produced by Merman, the production company Irish writer, actress and comedian Sharon Horgan shares with Clelia Mountford. They’ve worked across everything from Bad Sisters and Motherland to the upcoming adaptation of Jeanette McCurdy’s searing memoir I’m Glad My Mom Died – so we know we are in trusted hands.

‘The series explores themes related to desire, obsession, sexuality, lust,’ Weisz summarises. ‘It also delves into the world of campus gender politics and cancel culture.’ Here’s how.

Rachel Weisz as The Protagonist and Leo Woodall as Vladimir in Vladimir.

What’s The Plot?

Weisz stars as the unnamed protagonist, a popular contemporary literature professor at a small university (what they’d call a liberal arts college stateside), reaching middle aged and happily married to her charismatic husband John (John Slattery), another professor at the same college, with the couple sharing daughter Sid (Ellen Robertson).

But the protagonist is feeling pretty stale: her writing career has slowed to a halt, and each semester fewer students sign up to her once-renowned course. ‘She’s relatable because of her insecurities about ageing,’ Jonas explains, ‘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.’

Rachel Weisz as The Protagonist in Vladimir.

For a long time, the couple has had a mutual understanding about extra marital pursuits – but with John otherwise occupied, the protagonist no longer feels sexually desired either. But when she learns her college is bringing a sexual assault case against John, the protagonist’s comfortable dissatisfaction descends into something much graver. Indeed John is being accused of conducting inappropriate relationships with his former students – relationships that happened a decade ago, and which he thought were consensual.

Enter Vladimir (Leo Woodall): a celebrated young author who has just arrived on campus. He’s compelling and the protagonist is almost immediately infatuated – but crucially he is also married, and his enigmatic wife Cynthia (Jessica Henwick) has also joined the faculty.

Thus begins the protagonist’s own undoing as she falls down a rabbit hole of obsession – and we will see the fallout across eight episodes. ‘There’s definitely comedy and drama,’ Weisz teases. ‘It’s mischievous and a good tonal cocktail for exploring some very serious subjects and issues. Her 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 [after lying] dormant for some time.’

But as well as an undoing, it’s a redoing: the protagonist finds herself reinvigorated, filled with new energy for her work thanks to her lusty obsession and Vladimir’s interest. ‘He’s interested in her writing career. He asks her questions that other people don’t ask her,’ Weisz says. ‘Of course, it’s helpful that he is staggeringly handsome and beautiful. But it’s really his personality – his kindness and the fact that he notices her. She feels seen.’

Get a taste of the action in the trailer below.

The Filming Locations

Vladimir is set in America, but filming actually took place in Ontario, Canada’s southernmost and most populous province, home to Toronto and bordering US states Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. Plenty of TV shows are filmed here (recently including Heated Rivalry, The Handmaid’s Tale and Schitt’s Creek) thanks to generous tax credits and generally lower costs than filming in the US (Toronto often doubles as NYC, for example).

When it comes to Vladimir – which is ‘set in this delicious world of academia,’ author Jonas says – the main filming location was a real university: the University of Toronto’s Scarborough campus, formerly known as Scarborough College, to the northwest of the city. You’ll spot the university’s brutalist architecture, green courtyards and tree-lined paths.

‘I know the romance of fall – walking around, holding your books, and all these fresh faces,’ Jonas says. ‘They’re all falling in love with the subject matter, and also the ridiculousness of the minutiae. All of the politics feel huge inside of this bubble, but it is very much a bubble.’

Rachel Weisz as The Protagonist and Jessica Henwick as Cynthia in Vladimir

The Cast

Two Brits lead – Weisz and Woodall as the protagonist and Vladimir – this American campus drama, with American star Slattery completing the trio.

The cast we know so far is as follows:

Rachel Weisz as The Protagonist
Leo Woodall as Vladimir
John Slattery as John
Ellen Robertson as Sid
Jessica Henwick as Cynthia
Kayli Carter as Lila
Miriam Silverman as Florence
Mallori Johnson as Edwina
Matt Walsh as David
Tattiawna Jones as Alexis
Louise Lambert as Dawn

The Book

As mentioned, Vladimir is based on Julia May Jonas’s 2022 novel of the same name – her debut. Jonas herself adapted it for the screen, and lead star Weisz had read it before she was offered the role. ‘Her writing is so superb,’ the star says. ‘It’s so funny and mischievous and truthful, and slightly ridiculous. That’s what makes it funny.’

Co-star Woodall – who rose to fame in The White Lotus season 2 and previously starred as the subject of a protagonist’s infatuation in book-to-film adaptation Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy (2025) – describes Jonas as ‘extraordinary’. ‘It was her first time working on a film set. It was the first time a novel of hers had been made into a TV show, her first time showrunning. She had a lot of responsibility,’ Woodall recalls. ‘She had so much on her plate, but she dealt with it wonderfully.

‘She’s very flexible and collaborative,’ Woodall adds. ‘There were so many points where she would have insight that was invaluable. When you are a leader of a set, and she was in very many ways our leader, you have to set the tone, and your energy bleeds out into a set. What she’s done is really remarkable.’