‘Big Little Lies’ Nicole Kidman and David E. Kelley Reteaming for Hulu’s ‘Nine Perfect Strangers’

Hulu is unofficially getting into the Big Little Lies game. At the 2019 Hulu Upfronts, the streaming company announced it was giving a straight-to-series order to Nine Perfect Strangers, the television adaptation of one of Liane Moriatry’s latest novels. The series will star Nicole Kidman, while David E. Kelley and John Henry Butterworth will showrun and co-write the series.

Based on Moriarty’s novel of the same name, Nine Perfect Strangers follows a mystery that unfolds in a health and wellness resort. This retreat promises peace and transformation to a group of stressed city dwellers looking for relief, and the resort’s director Masha (Kidman) wants nothing more than to grant them that wellness. Or so it seems. As this 10-day retreat unfolds these strangers find themselves embroiled in something that will forever change them. Nine Perfect Strangers became an almost instant hit, spending 13 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list. And now it’s coming to Hulu.

Not only are Kidman, Kelley, and Butterworth involved in the series, but the drama will also be produced by the award-winning Bruna Papandrea and Per Saari. The series is set to be produced by Kidman and Papandrea’s production companies, Made Up Stories and Blossom Films respectively. The series will also be produced by Endeavor Content, the studio behind The Eddy, BBC America’s hit Killing Eve, and Apple’s upcoming See starring Jason Momoa.

With the announcement of Nine Perfect Strangers, Hulu is proving that it’s getting more serious about its slate of dramas. The streaming service already found a critical darling with the award-winning The Handmaid’s Tale, and this spring’s The Act has turned into more of an unexpected mainstream hit. A pulpy drama starring Nicole Kidman from the same creators behind Big Little Lies has the potential to bridge the gap between these shows.

Hulu announced that Nine Perfect Strangers is expected to debut on Hulu in late 2020. It will be joined by other new Hulu originals such as Little Fires Everywhere, Wu-Tang: An American Saga, Looking For Alaska, Dollface, Reprisal and The Great.