Main

• Nicole Kidman as Masha Dmitrichenko,^[8] the Russian founder of the wellness resort called Tranquillum House

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. Production companies involved with the series are Made Up Stories, Blossom Films, and Endeavor Content.^[3] On January 7, 2020, Melissa McCarthy joined the series as an executive producer.^[11] 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.^[12] Yves Bélanger served as cinematographer.^[13]

Despite being conceived as a limited series, it was announced in June 2023 that the series was renewed for a second season.^[14]

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.^[15] 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.^[16][17]

Casting

Alongside the initial series announcement, it was reported that Nicole Kidman was cast in a lead role.^[18] In addition to her executive producing announcement, Melissa McCarthy had also joined the cast in a starring role.^[11] On May 27, 2020, Manny Jacinto joined the main cast.^[19] In June 2020, Asher Keddie and Luke Evans were cast in starring roles.^[20][21] In July 2020, Melvin Gregg, Samara Weaving, Grace Van Patten, Tiffany Boone and Michael Shannon joined the main cast.^{[4][22][23][24][25]} In August 2020, Regina Hall and Bobby Cannavale were cast in starring roles.^[26][27] On October 22, 2020, Hal Cumpston joined the cast in a recurring role.^[28] On November 19, 2020, Zoe Terakes was cast in a recurring role.^[29]

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.^[9] On March 21, 2024, Henry Golding, Mark Strong and Lena Olin were reported to join the cast.^[10]

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.^[30] Principal photography began on August 10, 2020, in Byron Bay, New South Wales.^[31] On December 21, 2020, Kidman announced that filming had wrapped.^[32]

Kidman met most of the other nine actors right when filming their first scene together, and stayed in character as Masha during production.^[33]

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."^[40] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 54 out of 100 based on 35 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[41]

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".^[42] 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".^[43]

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."^[44] 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.^[45]

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."^[46] 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."^[47]

Audience viewership

On August 24, 2021, it was reported that the premiere was the most-watched Hulu original at the time.^[48]

Awards and nominations