Netflix unveils September premiere date for dark reinterpretation of Polish classic 'Lalka'
A new six-episode adaptation of Bolesław Prus's novel 'Lalka' will hit Netflix on September 16, 2026. The series strips away romantic idealism, weaving in detective threads and family secrets in 19th-century Warsaw.
A modern, unsentimental take
This adaptation of 'Lalka' abandons the romantic idealisation of its characters, presenting them as people trapped by social dependencies, corroded by ambition and money. The creators expand the classic plot with a detective investigation, family secrets and conflicts that expose the hidden interests of the protagonists. In this version of 19th-century Warsaw, love is not enough, and every decision carries a price.
Characters reimagined
Izabela Łęcka, played by Sandra Drzymalska, is a young aristocrat with her own plan for life, deliberately cultivating an image of independence and unavailability, even though her fate still depends on capital and the choices of men. Tomasz Schuchardt portrays Stanisław Wokulski as a lonely self-made man desperate for acceptance by the elite, mistaking a need for control and security for love and treating his beloved more as a promised ideal than a real person.
Ignacy Rzecki, played by Dariusz Chojnacki, is Wokulski's business partner and friend, a village-born idealist devoted to simple human values. Jacek Braciak plays Tomasz Łęcki, a bankrupt relic of the old order whose gambling weaknesses and mistakes threaten his daughter's future. The ensemble also features Magdalena Cielecka as the charismatic and convention-defying Wąsowska, Piotr Adamczyk as the self-interested salon player Krzeszowski, Piotr Pacek as the decadent opportunist Starski, Julia Wyszyńska as the impoverished cousin Florentyna, Maria Kania as the straightforward Marianna from a lower social sphere, and Agnieszka Grochowska in a supporting role.
Production and release
The six-episode period drama was directed by Paweł Maślona, based on a screenplay written together with Paweł Demirski and Jagoda Dutkiewicz. Filming began on July 1, 2025, at the Palace in Nieborów. The series will launch on Netflix on September 16, 2026, two weeks before the cinema premiere of a separate film adaptation of 'Lalka' directed by Maciej Kawalski.
