Netflix has picked up The Enigma Variations, a limited series starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson and based on a novel by Call Me By Your Name author André Aciman.
The show comes from indie studio Media Res (The Morning Show, Pachinko) and writer and executive producer A.K. Shuman (The Wheel of Time). It’s the latest addition to a slate of romantic dramas at Netflix that includes Bridgerton, Virgin River and the newly ordered This Summer Will Be Different.
The Enigma Variations has been in development at Netflix since January 2025. Jeremy Allen White was initially attached to play the lead role and executive produce but left the project late last year.
Taylor-Johnson (28 Years Later, Nosferatu) will play Paul, “a man remade by the lovers who ignite and undo him over the course of ten transformative years,” the show’s logline reads. “It’s an intimate yet sweeping portrait of masculinity, sexuality, and modern love — and in a world of endless choices, it asks the question: Will we know when we’ve found the one?”
The show will be Taylor-Johnson’s first series in some time. He had several TV roles in the U.K. early in his career but has largely concentrated on film work more recently.
Oliver Hermanus (The History of Sound, Mary & George) is set to direct The Enigma Variations. Shuman will be the showrunner and executive produce with Hermanus, Michael Ellenberg and Lindsey Springer of Media Res, Aciman and Monica Levinson.
