From Big Little Lies to The Undoing, Nicole Kidman has been the star of some of TV's biggest thrillers over the past few years and she hasn't stopped there.

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The Oscar winner is set to play a charismatic Russian health retreat director in the upcoming adaptation of Big Little Lies author Liane Moriarty's novel Nine Perfect Strangers.

Reuniting with The Undoing showrunner David E. Kelley, Kidman is executive producing this eight-part drama about a group of city dwellers who head to a 10-day countryside health and wellness resort in search of physical and mental transformation.

While the new guests initially think they've checked into a run-of-the-mill fad-perpetuating detox retreat, they soon come to realise that Tranquillum House is unlike any place they've ever been before and not in a good way.

With the recent Nine Perfect Strangers trailer teasing unorthodox treatments, strange bonding exercises and snippets of Kidman's sinister-looking character watching the guests over CCTV, it looks as though the Amazon Prime Video drama is set to become our next TV obsession.

Read on for everything you need to know about Nine Perfect Strangers.

Nine Perfect Strangers release date

The first three episodes of Nine Perfect Strangers will launch on Amazon Prime Video on Friday 20th August, with the remaining five added weekly until the finale on Friday 24th September.

Amazon's partnership with Kidman's production was announced in May 2021, securing Nine Perfect Strangers an international home away from Hulu, which remains exclusive to the United States.

“I’m so proud of what we were able to pull together this past year, bringing Nine Perfect Strangers filming to Australia during the global COVID-19 pandemic," said Kidman.

"Partnering with Melissa McCarthy, working with David Kelley, Liane Moriarty and my producing cohorts again, joining forces with Hulu in the USA and now this, a global distribution deal with my home studio of Amazon.

"The stars have aligned and I am thrilled!”

The show made its Hulu debut on Wednesday 18th August for viewers in the US.

Will Nine Perfect Strangers be on Netflix?

The upcoming adaptation of Nine Perfect Strangers starring Nicole Kidman won't be arriving on Netflix as it is a Hulu and Amazon Prime Video original.

The first three episodes will debut on Friday 20th August on Amazon Prime Video for those in the UK, with the rest of the episodes debuting weekly from that point onwards.

Nine Perfect Strangers cast

Melissa McCarthy in Nine Perfect Strangers
Melissa McCarthy in Nine Perfect Strangers Amazon

By this point in her career, Nicole Kidman is used to working alongside all-star casts and Nine Perfect Strangers will be no exception.

The Academy Award winner will take the lead role in the streaming series as the director of a mysterious wellness centre called Tranquillum, where nine guests come to destress but are shocked by what they find.

Kidman's co-star is Melissa McCarthy, best known for comedy work in the likes of Bridesmaids, Spy and Ghostbusters, but also an Oscar-nominated dramatic performer for 2018 biopic Can You Ever Forgive Me?.

She plays romance novelist Frances Welty, who takes a trip to Tranquillum after admitting that she is "in need of some fixing" and hearing that host Masha can completely transform people.

The other guests include Luke Evans (The Pembrokeshire Murders) as a divorce lawyer, Regina Hall (Black Monday) as a single mother, as well as Melvin Gregg (American Vandal) and Samara Weaving (Bill & Ted Face The Music) as a wealthy but troubled couple.

Michael Shannon (The Shape of Water), Asher Keddie (Stateless), Grace Van Patten (The Meyerowitz Stories) and Bobby Cannavale (Ant-Man) play fellow city-dwellers in need of a retreat, while Manny Jacinto (The Good Place) and Tiffany Boone (The Midnight Sky) play Tranquillum staff members Yao and Delilah.

Nine Perfect Strangers trailer

Amazon Prime Video released its first teaser trailer for Nine Perfect Strangers in June 2021, with its two lead actors Nicole Kidman and Melissa McCarthy taking the spotlight. You can watch the suspenseful teaser below.

Prime Video has since released a full length trailer, revealing more about the holidaymakers at Tranquillium House and its mysterious, slightly ominous, director Masha played by Nicole Kidman.

"You want to get well? You want to heal? Surrender yourself to me," she says as the group are seen digging their own graves. "I am going to fix you." I think it's safe to say this isn't your typical wellness retreat.

Nine Perfect Strangers plot

Nine Perfect Strangers is a drama series about an unusual health and wellness centre called Tranquillum House, run by a mysterious Russian woman named Masha Dmitrichenko (Kidman).

The reputation of the institution is quite something, with word-of-mouth boasting that Masha invites a very deliberate mix of people to each retreat and supposedly "completely changes" them over the course of their stay.

However, don't expect your time to be spent lounging by the pool and enjoying the occasional back rub, as the trailer shows things at Tranquillum get very intense – with Masha ominously warning that "sometimes it will be unpleasant".

The series will follow nine stressed city dwellers as they arrive at Masha's health-and-wellness retreat that promises healing and transformation. While Masha is on a mission to reinvigorate their tired minds and bodies, "these nine strangers have no idea what is about to hit them," Prime Video teases.

Read more: Where is Tranquillum House?

Is Nine Perfect Strangers based on a book?

Yes! Nine Perfect Strangers is based on the 2018 novel of the same name by Liane Moriarty, who is attached to the television adaptation as an executive producer.

This is Kidman's second collaboration with Moriarty, who also wrote the book on which Big Little Lies was inspired, so the two have established a strong track record together so far.

Nine Perfect Strangers is available from Amazon as a paperback novel or a Kindle download.

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Nine Perfect Strangers premieres on Amazon Prime Video on Friday 20th August. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what's on tonight.

Authors

David Craig
David CraigSenior Drama Writer

David Craig is the Senior Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest and greatest scripted drama and comedy across television and streaming. Previously, he worked at Starburst Magazine, presented The Winter King Podcast for ITVX and studied Journalism at the University of Sheffield.

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