'Anna Karenina' series in the works at Netflix

May 26 (UPI) -- Netflix is developing a new series based on Anna Karenina.

The streaming service announced the series Anna K in a press release Wednesday.

Anna K is described as "a lavish and contemporary" retelling of Leo Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina. The series follows Anna, the wife of the soon-to-become governor of St. Petersburg, who enters a life-changing love affair with Vronsky, the dashing heir of an aluminum empire.

The show "explores themes of passion, loyalty and the irrefutable truth that no amount of riches can save us from love's ability to either free us or bring us to our doom."

Svetlana Khodchenkova (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) will play the title character, Anna.

Anna K will mark Netflix's first Russian original series. Valeriy Fedorovich, Evgeniy Nikishov, Natasha Merkulova, Aleksey Chupov and Roman Kantor will direct, with Fedorovich, Nikishov, Kantor and Kornikhin as producers. The series is produced by 1-2-3 Production.

"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. Quite literally so, as the idea for this TV series came to me in a dream and I have been chasing it ever since," Kantor said.

Netflix has yet to announce a premiere date for the series.