‘Nine Perfect Strangers’: Melissa McCarthy Joins Nicole Kidman in Hulu Adaptation of ‘Big Little Lies’ Author’s Novel

Nine Perfect Strangers cast

Welcome to Tranquillum House, Melissa McCarthy.

That’s the name of the fictional health-and-wellness facility in Nine Perfect Strangers, an upcoming Hulu series based on the latest novel from Big Little Lies author Liane Moriarty. Big Little Lies veteran Nicole Kidman has already been cast as the overseer of the facility, and McCarthy will play one of nine people who show up searching for a little R&R…only to discover that things may not be quite what they seem.

Deadline reports that McCarthy has joined the Nine Perfect Strangers cast alongside Kidman, marking the actresses big return to television for the first time since her CBS sitcom Mike & Molly went off the air in 2016. (There were also those famous Saturday Night Live appearances as Sean Spicer, but those don’t really count.) McCarthy will play the character of Frances Welty; here’s how the Amazon synopsis describes her:

Nine people gather at a remote health resort. Some are here to lose weight, some are here to get a reboot on life, some are here for reasons they can’t even admit to themselves. Amidst all of the luxury and pampering, the mindfulness and meditation, they know these ten days might involve some real work. But none of them could imagine just how challenging the next ten days are going to be.

Frances Welty, the formerly best-selling romantic novelist, arrives at Tranquillum House nursing a bad back, a broken heart, and an exquisitely painful paper cut. She’s immediately intrigued by her fellow guests. Most of them don’t look to be in need of a health resort at all. But the person that intrigues her most is the strange and charismatic owner/director of Tranquillum House. Could this person really have the answers Frances didn’t even know she was seeking? Should Frances put aside her doubts and immerse herself in everything Tranquillum House has to offer – or should she run while she still can?

It’s not long before every guest at Tranquillum House is asking exactly the same question.

As previously reported, Big Little Lies head honcho David E. Kelley will be co-writing this series with John Henry Butterworth (Edge of Tomorrow) and Samantha Strauss (Dance Academy), and is co-showrunning alongside Butterworth. Bruna Papandrea, Steve Hutensky, Casey Haver, Per Saari, Kidman, and now McCarthy will all executive produce. The series is expected to arrive on Hulu sometime in 2021 due to the busy schedules of everyone involved, but in the meantime, check out Kidman’s fellow Big Little Lies star Reese Witherspoon in her own Hulu show, Little Fires Everywhere, when that arrives on March 18, 2020.