Passing through a glamorous party in the trailer for What/If, Netflix’s new neo-noir series, Renée Zellweger is a sultry vision of sophistication. But there’s something sinister lingering beneath the bouncy blow dry, sky-high heels and gleaming jewellery.

The actor hasn’t appeared on television screens for over a decade, and now she’s made her return as Anne, a mysterious woman who plans to make a cash-strapped young couple an offer they can’t refuse – but warns it will come at a price.

Netflix has described the 10-part thriller as social exploration into “what happens when acceptable people start doing unacceptable things” – and from the looks of the first peek the people in question are San Francisco’s elite, and they’ve just become pawns in Anne’s sadistic game of chess.

Hardly any details have been revealed about the show, but from the trailer we can guess that big themes are going to be money, sex and manipulation as the camera pans around a particularly fancy apartment and watches as objectively beautiful people essentially get together or get annoyed at each other.

Speaking over the scene, Zellweger’s voice takes on an unnervingly sickly tone that suggests she’s absolutely up to no good, asking the watcher: “What if I made you an offer, too extraordinary to refuse? For anything and anyone to be yours for the taking.”

“The players are all arranged. What would you risk for a chance to have it all?”

So far, it sounds like a cross between Indecent Proposal and Dynasty and we’re absolutely here for it. 

The show drops on the 24 May on Netflix, so you can find out the answers to Anne’s game then.

Images: Netflix