Get Your First Look at Netflix's 'Persuasion' Adaptation

Step right up and get a good look at the first of not just one but two brand new adaptations of Jane Austen's Persuasion that will be headed our way this year. The story is one of Austen's least frequently adapted works, likely due to its prickly, older heroine and more difficult subject matter. A story of missed opportunities, regrets, and second chances, it's true that Persuasion is not precisely as bright as, say, a Pride and Prejudice or an Emma. (But it's also an extremely underrated tale that's often painfully romantic.)

Netflix's new version stars Dakota Johnson - best known for her roles in the 50 Shades of Grey franchise - as Ann Elliott, now an old maid at the age of 27 after rejecting the proposal of dirt poor naval officer Frederick Wentworth seven years prior. But when a still-single Wentworth returns from war a decorated captain and his path crosses with Anne's once more, she begins to wonder if she made the right decision in turning him down.

Production is now underway in the U.K., and Netflix has released several photos of the film's primary cast. Cosmo Vardes (Raised by Wolves, Peaky Blinders) is playing Wentworth, and though he may not have a tremendously long resume, he certainly looks the part of a dashing ex suddenly back to ruin your life, is all I'm saying.