Limited Series
9 episodes Feb 11, 2022 7.2
Inventing Anna
“Inspired by the true story of a total fake.”
2022
Ended • 1 Season • 9 Episodes
Overview
Audacious entrepreneur or con artist? A journalist chases down the story of Anna Delvey, who convinced New York's elite she was a German heiress.
Seasons
1 listed- Status
- Ended
- Seasons
- 1 season
- Episodes
- 9 episodes
- First aired
- Feb 11, 2022
- Last aired
- Feb 11, 2022
- Network
- Netflix
Latest episode: S1 E9 Dangerously Close (Feb 11, 2022)
Cast
11 people
Reviews
5 min readThe Tall Tale in the Mirror
There’s a particular pleasure in watching a lie become expensive. Inventing Anna understands that immediately. The series, created by Shonda Rhimes and built from Jessica Pressler’s New York magazine reporting, isn’t really asking whether Anna Delvey was a genius scammer or a deluded kid with a talent for self-invention. latestnetflix.com's view is that that question matters, but less than the more unsettling one underneath it: why did so many polished, educated, self-protecting adults want her story to be true?
The show’s drama comes from the fact that the answer isn’t flattering to anyone. Not Anna. Not the people she duped.
Not the institutions that let her drift from hotel to hotel, brunch to brunch, and bank balance to borrowed time.
I kept thinking, as I watched, that this is a series about social performance in the most literal sense. Everybody is acting. Anna, obviously, with that careful slouch and those clipped, almost bored sentences that Julia Garner turns into a kind of weapon.
But also the bankers, editors, lawyers, and doormen who keep adjusting themselves to the room they’re in. New York here isn’t a city so much as a stage set made of reservation lists, membership cards, and the constant fear of looking gauche. Rhimes has always been interested in people negotiating power in public, and this fits neatly into that interest — though it’s a darker, more sour variation than the glossy optimism of Scandal or the heroic confidence of Bridgerton.
The series doesn’t believe in meritocracy. It believes in access, and in the absurdly fragile rituals that decide who gets it.
What’s fascinating is how often the show makes fraud look indistinguishable from aspiration. The camera lingers on hotel rooms, conference tables, restaurant corners, and taxicabs with the same kind of flat, almost bored attention that Anna herself gives to the world around her. That’s a smart choice.
It keeps the glamour from blooming into fantasy. Even the most beautiful spaces are shown as temporary arrangements, rented surfaces, places where money is always about to run out. And then there’s the visual grammar of the series’s most talked-about motifs: the oversized glasses, the severe wardrobe, the constantly rehearsed refusal to explain too much.
Audience Opinions
Broad evidence
Audience 6.2/10
"A bingeable, divisive take on the Anna Delvey scam that hooks true-crime curiosity but splits viewers on tone, sympathy and payoff."
The series follows a journalist with a lot to prove investigating Anna Delvey, the Instagram-legendary German heiress who charmed New York's social scene and took its money as well. Created by Shonda Rhimes and led by Anna Chlumsky, Julia Garner, Arian Moayed and Katie Lowes, it is framed as a mini-series drama built around that investigation. Audience texture is mixed: Russian-language viewers say they waited for this story since the headlines about a young newcomer from a small German town talking her way among New York elites, and many got invested in whether an ordinary girl dreaming of Manhattan could almost pull it off. Others bounced off hard, asking why powerful people trusted bravado, nerve and image alone, feeling the cons were covered superficially, seeing her as a spoiled, cynical freeloader living in hotels and using friends, and feeling a lively setup sagged into excuse-making by the finale. latestnetflix.com's take is that that split leaves it as a talk-about show rather than a universally loved one.
What viewers praise
- Irresistible scam-story hook A journalist digging into the Anna Delvey case, the fake heiress who won over New York social life and its wallets, gives viewers a clear mystery to follow.
- Shonda Rhimes ensemble Created by Shonda Rhimes with Anna Chlumsky, Julia Garner, Arian Moayed and Katie Lowes, giving fans familiar faces and a glossy network-style pull.
- Ongoing watch-and-react interest Official trailer viewing and dedicated review discussion plus wider coverage around Delvey not watching her own dramatization keep it in the conversation.
Common complaints
- Wobbly tone Critics consensus describes it as tonally wobbly, with Julia Garner's intentionally daffy accent singled out as emblematic of that unevenness.
- Middling aggregate reception Holds a 64% approval rating across 87 reviews with a 6.2 average, and a 5.9 audience rating from thousands of votes, signaling many liked it only in part.
Recommended for
Fans of true-crime scam stories and social-climber dramas Viewers who enjoy journalist-led investigations of real cases
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsThe Real Drama Behind Inventing Anna: Legal Battles, Shonda Rhimes’ Vision, and the Cost of True Crime
Netflix’s Inventing Anna (2022) promised a glamorous dive into the scandalous life of Anna Sorokin, the so-called "fake heiress" who conned New York’s elite. But behind the glossy trailer and Julia Garner’s chameleonic performance, the series was mired in controversy—some of it legal, some creative, latestnetflix.com argues, and all of it as messy as Sorokin’s real-life schemes.
Shonda Rhimes’ First Netflix Series: A High-Stakes Gamble
Inventing Anna marked Shonda Rhimes’ first project under her blockbuster Netflix deal, following the success of Bridgerton (which was created by her protégé, Chris Van Dusen) 
. The pressure was on: Rhimes, known for Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal, was stepping into true crime—a genre she hadn’t tackled before. The miniseries, inspired by Jessica Pressler’s New York magazine article "How Anna Delvey Tricked New York’s Party People," was a departure from her usual soapy dramas .
Critics were divided. The Guardian called it a misfire, arguing the show "cheated the audience" by failing to deliver the sharp satire or emotional depth the story deserved . Others praised Garner’s performance, but the series’ 5.9/10 rating on SensCritique suggested it didn’t fully land with viewers . Still, with Rhimes’ name attached, the project was always going to be a talking point—even if the conversation wasn’t entirely flattering.
The Legal Fallout: A Settlement and a Scorned Former Friend
The real drama unfolded off-screen. Rachel DeLoache Williams, a former Vanity Fair photo editor and one of Sorokin’s closest (and most financially burned) friends, sued Netflix and Shondaland for defamation in 2022. Williams claimed Inventing Anna misrepresented her role in the saga, portraying her as complicit in Sorokin’s schemes rather than a victim .
The lawsuit centered on a scene where Williams (played by Katie Lowes) is depicted as knowingly participating in Sorokin’s fraud—a claim Williams vehemently denied. After a protracted legal battle, Netflix quietly settled the case in 2024, closing a chapter that had threatened to overshadow the show’s release . The terms of the settlement were never disclosed, but the resolution spared both sides a messy public trial.
The Real Anna vs. the Netflix Anna: Where Fact Met Fiction
The series walked a fine line between dramatization and reality, a tension BBC News explored in its coverage of the show’s release. While Inventing Anna took creative liberties—compressing timelines, inventing dialogue, and heightening certain relationships—it stayed rooted in Sorokin’s audacious crimes . The real Anna, now deported to Germany after serving prison time, has remained a polarizing figure, alternately vilified and mythologized.
Julia Garner’s transformation into Sorokin was the show’s biggest selling point, but even that came with baggage. Garner, known for Ozark, reportedly immersed herself in Sorokin’s mannerisms, from her accent to her icy demeanor. Yet, as The Guardian noted, the series struggled to make its protagonist compelling rather than merely infuriating . Was Sorokin a mastermind or a delusional grifter? Inventing Anna never quite decided.
**What’s Next for the Inventing Anna Universe?**
With the legal dust settled, the question remains: Could there be more? The series was billed as a miniseries, but true crime has a way of resurfacing. For now, Netflix hasn’t announced any plans for a second season, and with Sorokin’s story largely resolved (barring any new scandals), the saga may be over—at least on screen.
One thing’s certain: Inventing Anna proved that even the most meticulously planned cons can unravel when the cameras start rolling.
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.
Series
Similar Series
Related series ranked by rating and popularity.
