In ‘One Day,’ a new Emma and Dexter bring angst and yearning (again and again)

Long before Netflix hooked viewers with a premise that tested whether a love connection could be formed in a matter of days in a "pod" with a glowing blue wall on "Love Is Blind," a fictional duo had hopeful romantics yearning for a different kind of connection — a beautifully torturous 20-year slow burn.

"One Day," David Nicholls' bestselling novel, is a melancholic, angst-ridden portrait of a friendship between two young people that deepens and matures into a romance separated by time and timing. It was adapted for the big screen in 2011 with Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess. Now, the love story has been refashioned into a 14-episode Netflix series by lead writer Nicole Taylor that was released last week. (Nicholls is an executive producer on the series.)

Emma, played by Ambika Mod ("This Is Going to Hurt"), is smart and witty, but insecure and stubborn; Dexter, played by Leo Woodall ("The White Lotus"), is privileged and unworried, but emotionally tortured. The pair spend the night together after their college graduation in 1988 —they talk, they drink, they remove clothing, but their one-night stand doesn't lead to sex. It sets their foundation. From there, the series checks in with them over the next 20 years on the same day (July 15) and chronicles their evolving relationship and lives as they navigate the pull of their tormented chemistry.

In a late-January Zoom conversation across time zones — Woodall and Mod joined in from their respective homes in London — the duo talked about chemistry reads, fans who enjoy the yearn, and how things end for Emma and Dexter. This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.