Nine Perfect Strangers (TV series)

Nine Perfect Strangers is an American drama television series based on the 2018 novel of the same name by Liane Moriarty. Created by David E. Kelley who also developed the series alongside John-Henry Butterworth, the series premiered on August 18, 2021, on Hulu.

In June 2023, it was announced that the series was renewed for a second season.

Premise
Nine strangers from the city gather for a 10-day retreat at Tranquillum House, a health and wellness resort in the fictional town of Cabrillo, California, which promises to transform and heal the guests who stay there. The resort is not what it seems to be, and the guests are about to discover many secrets about each other and the resort's host. One of the controversies arising between the guests and resort director Masha starts when she tells them during a meal conducted at a large table that they are all given a psychoactive drug, namely Psilocybin, in very small but relevant doses in their food without their consent or even knowledge, about which the guests are upset and assume it to be a crime.

Main

 * Nicole Kidman as Masha Dmitrichenko, the Russian founder of the wellness resort called Tranquillum House

Season 1

 * Melissa McCarthy as Frances Welty, a novelist struggling with her professional and personal life
 * Michael Shannon as Napoleon Marconi, Heather's husband and Zoe's father, a high school teacher grieving the death of his son
 * Luke Evans as Lars Lee, a man who comes to the resort with a hidden agenda
 * Samara Weaving as Jessica Chandler, a social media influencer and Ben's wife
 * Asher Keddie as Heather Marconi, Napoleon's wife and Zoe's mother, mourning the death of her son
 * Melvin Gregg as Ben Chandler, Jessica's wealthy lottery winner husband
 * Tiffany Boone as Delilah, a devoted employee at Tranquillum House
 * Manny Jacinto as Yao, Masha's right-hand man at Tranquillum House
 * Grace Van Patten as Zoe Marconi, Napoleon and Heather's daughter, grieving the death of her twin brother
 * Zoe Terakes as Glory, another employee at Tranquillum House
 * Regina Hall as Carmel Schneider, a single mother of four children whose husband left her for a younger woman
 * Bobby Cannavale as Tony Hogburn, a former American football tight end struggling with his drug addiction

Season 2

 * Murray Bartlett as Brian
 * Annie Murphy as Imogen
 * Christine Baranski as Victoria
 * Dolly de Leon as Agnes
 * Maisie Richardson-Sellers as Wolfie
 * King Princess as Tina
 * Aras Aydın as Matteo
 * Lucas Englander as Martin
 * Henry Golding as Peter
 * Mark Strong as David
 * Lena Olin as Helena

Special guest star

 * Ben Falcone as Paul Drabble, a man who catfished Frances and left her heartbroken

Recurring

 * Hal Cumpston as Zach Marconi, Napoleon and Heather's deceased son

Development
On May 1, 2019, it was reported that Hulu had given the production a straight-to-series order. The series was created by David E. Kelley who also developed the series alongside John-Henry Butterworth who also served as executive producers alongside Nicole Kidman, Per Saari, Bruna Papandrea, Steve Hutensky, and Casey Haver. Kelley and Butterworth also served as co-showrunners. Production companies involved with the series are Made Up Stories, Blossom Films, and Endeavor Content. On January 7, 2020, Melissa McCarthy joined the series as an executive producer. On July 29, 2020, it was announced Jonathan Levine was set to direct all eight episodes of the series as well as serve as an executive producer, while Gillian Bohrer joined the series as producer. Yves Bélanger served as cinematographer.

Despite being conceived as a limited series, it was announced in June 2023 that the series was renewed for a second season.

The second season received €10m from the German Motion Picture Fund (GMPF), which accounted for almost 25% of the €44.8m distributed by the Berlin-based fund in 2023. Furthermore, the production obtained the maximum allocation of €7.5m from Austria's FISA+ program, designed to attract international productions to the country. The second season is being developed as a collaborative effort between the USA, Germany, and Austria, with production led by the USA's Fifth Season alongside Germany's Supernix and Austria's Supernix Austria. In the second season, Masha will lead a fresh ensemble of nine strangers, who seek sanctuary from their hectic lives with a 10-day star at a resort nestled in the Swiss Alps.

Casting
Alongside the initial series announcement, it was reported that Nicole Kidman was cast in a lead role. In addition to her executive producing announcement, Melissa McCarthy had also joined the cast in a starring role. On May 27, 2020, Manny Jacinto joined the main cast. In June 2020, Asher Keddie and Luke Evans were cast in starring roles. In July 2020, Melvin Gregg, Samara Weaving, Grace Van Patten, Tiffany Boone and Michael Shannon joined the main cast. In August 2020, Regina Hall and Bobby Cannavale were cast in starring roles. On October 22, 2020, Hal Cumpston joined the cast in a recurring role. On November 19, 2020, Zoe Terakes was cast in a recurring role.

On December 14, 2023, Liv Ullman, Murray Bartlett, Annie Murphy, Christine Baranski, Dolly de Leon, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, King Princess, Aras Aydın, and Lucas Englander were cast as series regulars for the second season. On March 21, 2024, Henry Golding, Mark Strong and Lena Olin were reported to join the cast.

Filming
On July 8, 2020, Evans revealed that filming would take place in Australia. He also revealed that all actors were required to quarantine for fourteen days in the city of arrival in Australia, due to regulations imposed by the Australian government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, all actors were required to be tested during the quarantine before filming could begin. Principal photography began on August 10, 2020, in Byron Bay, New South Wales. On December 21, 2020, Kidman announced that filming had wrapped.

Kidman met most of the other nine actors right when filming their first scene together, and stayed in character as Masha during production.

On July 20, 2024, Golding confirmed that the second season filming had wrapped. He also said that Kidman occasionally kept the accent even when she wasn't filming.

Release
Hulu released a first-look trailer for the show during the 93rd Academy Awards airing on ABC on April 25, 2021. The series premiered on Hulu on August 18, 2021, with the first three episodes released at once, and a new episode released weekly thereafter. The finale was released on September 22, 2021. Outside of the United States and China, the series was released on Prime Video. It was broadcast free-to-air in Australia on SBS TV in October/November 2022 and in Greece on ERT in February 2024.

Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a 59% approval rating with an average rating of 6.1/10, based on 111 critic reviews. The critics consensus reads, "A meandering mystery may muddle its impact, but strong performances across the board from its eclectic ensemble mean Nine Perfect Strangers is never less than watchable." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 54 out of 100 based on 35 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Ben Travers of IndieWire called out the series was a "disappointing limited series. There's nothing special here, and whatever juice was stirred into Liane Moriarty's bestselling novel of the same name, that's been squeezed out of this languid, lost eight-episode drama". Alison Herman of Theringer pointed out one of the biggest mistakes of the show was that it followed the HBO's big hit The White Lotus "too soon" and was "overstuffed and undercooked".

Alexis Nedd of Mashable compared the show to "smoothies" and commented that "the individually good pieces are some wonderful performances, an interesting premise, and a visually stunning location. Someone just forgot to hit blend." Make a comparison to the previous hit show Big Little Lies, which combined the same elements as Nicole Kidman starred based on a best-selling novel from Liane Moriarty and adapted by David E. Kelley, Rachel Cooke of New Statesman called out "this time around, however, the glossy algorithm has failed to work.

Kevin E G Perry of The Independent called out "the stellar cast's obvious chemistry helps elevate a script that grows increasingly melodramatic as each of their character's secrets are brought to light." David Bianculli of NPR praised the performance of leading lady Nicole Kidman as "it's yet another deep and challenging role she's inhabited since opting to focus on TV miniseries as well as movies" even though it "is more of an ensemble than a solo turn."

Audience viewership
On August 24, 2021, it was reported that the premiere was the most-watched Hulu original at the time.