Stanisław Wokulski has money now, but it cannot buy the life he wants. The self-made merchant hopes the aristocratic Izabela Łęcka will love him and open the doors of a world that has never quite let him in. Izabela has ambitions of her own. Their relationship powers The Doll, Netflix’s new six-episode Polish limited series, which premiered September 16.
The show is called Lalka in Polish and adapts Bolesław Prus’s classic novel. Netflix’s version does not present the central pair as a perfect romance. Wokulski mistakes his wish for status and control for love, while Izabela fights to shape her own future inside a society that treats her choices as somebody else’s business.
Who plays Izabela and Stanisław?
Sandra Drzymalska plays Izabela, a young aristocrat whose independence is partly a performance she must maintain in public. Tomasz Schuchardt plays Stanisław, who has climbed into wealth but still wants the respect of people born into it. Jacek Braciak plays Izabela’s father, whose debts and bad decisions put her future at risk.
Dariusz Chojnacki plays Ignacy Rzecki, Stanisław’s friend and business partner. The wider cast includes Julia Wyszyńska, Maria Kania, Piotr Adamczyk, Piotr Pacek and Magdalena Cielecka. Their characters bring the shops, drawing rooms and social contests of nineteenth-century Warsaw to life.
More than a costume romance
Director Paweł Maślona wrote the scripts with Paweł Demirski and Jagoda Dutkiewicz. Netflix says this version adds an investigation, family secrets and conflicts over money to the original love story. It blends the elegance of a period drama with something sharper and occasionally strange. The series is interested in what people will do for a place in a room that has kept them outside.
The trailer moves between quiet conversations and grand interiors, but the pressure is personal. Wokulski sees Izabela as an answer to his loneliness. She does not want to be anyone’s prize. That clash gives the six episodes a stronger question than “will they get together?”: can either of them see the other clearly?
How many episodes, and where can you watch?
All six episodes are listed on Netflix’s title page. They run roughly an hour each, from 60 to 72 minutes. The series debuted September 16, 2026, on Netflix. The English-language title page calls it The Doll and describes it as a modern retelling of Prus’s novel, even though the story remains rooted in a period setting.
If you have never read Lalka, you do not need a lesson in Polish literature before pressing play. The opening premise is clear: a merchant wants to cross a class divide through love, and an aristocrat wants a life beyond the one arranged for her. The new series lets both desires make trouble.
Find the cast, creators and episode details on our The Doll series page.
