- Jeremy Allen White will play Paul in Enigma Variations
- The limited series is an adaptation of the novel by André Aciman
- Allen White’s character has romantic entanglements with both men and women in the series
Jeremy Allen White varely rarely misses. As the perennially infuriated genius chef Carmen Berzatto in The Bear, he is a magnetic, fragile personification of heartbreak, frustration and narcissism all at once. As Kerry Von Erich in Iron Claw he’s the endearing prodigy, incapable of processing newfound fame and fortune. His emotional range is often searingly chaotic and tortured. And he looks to be bringing this whole package to a new limited Netflix series.
Enigma Variations – a TV adaptation of the André Aciman novel of the same name – will see Allen White star as lead character Paul, a lovelorn bisexual man who’s emotional entanglings with both men and women across his life leave him constantly longing and romantically torn.
The two-time Emmy winner was announced as being attached to the project in January. Allen White will also serve as executive producer on the Oliver Hermanus (The Endless River, Beauty) directed project. The script, adapted from the novel by Amanda Kate Shuman (Berlin Station, The Blacklist), will be the second of Aciman’s novel’s to be taken to the screen, after 2017’s multiple-Oscar nominated Call Me By Your Name, starring Timothée Chalamet.
What is Enigma Variations about?
The official description of the novel states, “‘Enigma Variations’ charts the life of a man named Paul, whose loves remain as consuming and as covetous throughout his adulthood as they were in his adolescence. Whether the setting is southern Italy, where as a boy he has a crush on his parents’ cabinetmaker, or a snowbound campus in New England, where his enduring passion for a girl he’ll meet again and again over the years is punctuated by anonymous encounters with men—whether he’s on a tennis court in Central Park or on a New York sidewalk in early spring. Paul’s attachments are ungraspable, transient, and forever underwritten by raw desire.
“Ahead of every step Paul takes, his hopes, denials, fears, and regrets are always ready to lay their traps. Yet the dream of love lingers. We may not always know what we want. We may remain enigmas to ourselves and to others. But sooner or later, we discover who we’ve always known we were.”
Who will co-star with Jeremy Allen White?
At the time of writing, no other cast members have been confirmed for the project, but expect that to change in the coming weeks and months as plans develop.
When will Enigma Variations land on Netflix?
The project is currently in development, so no official release date has been confirmed as of yet.
Who is Directing the Series?
Directorial duties will be handled by Oliver Hermanus. The South African director is best known for The Endless River – the first South African film to be nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival – and Living, which received a plethora of accolades, including Academy Award nominations for its star Bill Nighy and its writer Kazuo Ishiguro.
In the more immediate future, Jeremy Allen White will star in Deliver Me From Nowhere, the biopic on Bruce Springsteen and the recording of his seminal sixth album, Nebraska. Allen White will star alongside Jeremy Strong, Stephen Graham, Gaby Hoffman, Odessa Young, Paul Walter Hauser and Marc Maron. The film is set for release later this year.
