Anna Karenina will receive a modern-day makeover in Netflix's first Russian original series

By Gabrielle Sanchez  |  May 26, 2021 | 3:35pm
TV Features Anna Karenina
Anna Karenina will receive a modern-day makeover in Netflix's first Russian original series
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Svetlana Khodchenkova at the Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy premiere at the Venice Film Festival in 2011. Photo: Gareth Cattermole

Netflix’s first Russian original drama series is in motion. A modern adaptation of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, with the working title Anna K, will bring a contemporary take to the socialite’s affairs.

Svetlana Khodchenkova (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Wolverine) stars as Anna, the wife of the soon-to-be governor of St. Petersburg, who falls in love with Vronsky, the affluent heir of an aluminum empire. Their affair soon begins to threaten their social and familial relationships, further unraveling as the two become more involved.

Considered one of the best novels ever written, plenty of Anna Karenina adaptations have been made across the world, the majority of the films set in the antiquated time period. However, Anna K plays out against the bustling city of Moscow, St. Petersberg, and the Russian countryside—all in a contemporary setting and in Tolstoy’s native language.

The series is written by Roman Kantor, known for Russian television series To The Lake. Director’s include Valeriy Fedorovich, Evgeniy Nikishov, Natasha Merkulova, Aleksey Chupov, and Kantor.

“To bring Anna Karenina into 21st-century Russia and to simultaneously introduce her to the whole world in her own language (and many others) through the miracle of Netflix is a dream come true for me,” Kantor says. “Quite literally so, as the idea for this TV series came to me in a dream and I have been chasing it ever since.”

No premiere date for the series has been set yet.

 
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