Two-time Oscar nominee Melissa McCarthy is returning to TV to star alongside Nicole Kidman in the Hulu limited series, Nine Perfect Strangers. This will mark McCarthy’s first regular TV role since she starred in the sitcom, Mike & Molly.
Based on the book by Big Little Lies author Liane Moriarty, Nine Perfect Strangers takes place at a boutique health-and-wellness resort that promises healing and transformation over the course of a 10-day retreat. The resort’s director, Masha (played by Kidman), is a woman on a mission to reinvigorate their tired minds and bodies. McCarthy will play Francis, one of the nine not-so-perfect strangers.
David E. Kelley and John Henry Butterworth co-wrote the script with Samantha Strauss, and will serve as showrunners. Hulu reportedly sees the show as a “programming tentpole”, and the series will debut in 2021 to avoid the glut of shows debuting this year.
Considering the success of Big Little Lies, Hulu’s optimism makes sense. Nine Perfect Strangers the book was published in November 2018 and spent 13 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list itself, and its rights were snapped up early on by the Big Little Lies duo of Kidman and Bruna Papandrea.
McCarthy has developed into more of a dramatic actress of late, earning her second Oscar nomination for Can You Ever Forgive Me? and starring in mob drama The Kitchen. She’s not totally moved away from her comedic roots though, as she recently wrapped on Ted Melfi‘s indie comedy The Starling, and will soon be seen in Superintelligence, which debuts later this year on HBO Max.
With Kidman and McCarthy aboard Nine Perfect Strangers, Hulu will probably hope their star power draws some more big names in. With every streaming platform and network jockeying for position, an adaptation of a very popular book with some big stars attached is one of the best ways to get subscribers sticking around.
#Peace.Love.NinePerfectStrangers
