Nicole Kidman’s notorious AMC commercials are about the only way that audiences can see her at the movies these days. The long-time movie star has clearly committed herself to the small screen, and the payoff for several streaming services has been resounding. More Big Little Lies is in the works by popular demand, and other recent Kidman TV hits include Nine Perfect Strangers, The Undoing, Expats, and Lioness, and for sure, more Kidman-starring series are on the way.
Those include a Kay Scarpetta series (coming from Prime Video/Amazon and Blumhouse) reportedly filming this fall, but before that happens, Netflix will bring The Perfect Couple to streaming. The cast is stacked, and a trailer has already surfaced, and this show looks like the lovechild of three other hit shows. Let’s talk about what viewers can expect.
Plot
The Perfect Couple reteams Kidman with her The Undoing director Susanne Bier (Bird Box) in this series that adapts Elin Hilderbrand’s best-selling 2018 novel about how families might literally love you to death. Kidman portrays Grace Garrison Winbury, a legendary mystery novelist with astounding wealth. She is married to Tag Winbury (Liev Schreiber), and as the title indicates, their “perfect couple” status would appear to cover up a cutting family dynamic.
Enter the Nantucket wedding setting of Amelia Sacks, who will soon marry a Winbury son, and naturally, Greer is not the most welcoming mother-in-law to be. Still, Grace’s waterfront estate is where the couple will be married in a lavish ceremony, but unfortunately, somebody ends up dying right before the scheduled nuptials. Those are telling shades of The White Lotus (Meghann Fahy’s presence helps that vibe) and Big Little Lies surfacing as police interrogations enter the narrative. The story also includes characters from Hilderbrand’s other novels, and naturally, nobody on the scene manages to evade suspicion.
From the series synopsis:
Amelia Sacks is about to marry into one of the wealthiest families on Nantucket. Her disapproving future mother-in-law, famous novelist Greer Garrison Winbury, has spared no expense in planning what promises to be the premiere wedding of the season – until a body turns up on the beach. As secrets come to light, the stage is set for a real-life investigation that feels plucked from the pages of one of Greer’s novels. Suddenly, everyone is a suspect.
The most important thing here is that Meghann Fahy’s character survives. Oh, can you imagine the irony of her portraying the deceased partygoer after her The White Lotus character was the first beachgoer to spot the (initial) second-season body? Actually, I don’t want to further contemplate that scenario.
Cast
In addition to Kidman and Fahy, the cast includes Liev Shreiber, Dakota Fanning, Michael Beach, Nick Searcy (Justified), and Eve Hewson.
Release Date
The Perfect Couple will stream in full on September 5.
Trailer
Netflix really kept this show quiet until a teaser trailer emerged:
Would you care for more photos?