'Nine Perfect Strangers' on Hulu Is 'Big Little Lies' Meets 'The White Lotus'

What is going on at Tranquillum House?

'Nine Perfect Strangers' on Hulu Is 'Big Little Lies' Meets 'The White Lotus'

Big Little Lies fans, your next obsession is here: Nine Perfect Strangers, Hulu's new miniseries based on the popular novel of the same name. Liane Moriarty, the author of BLL, also created this story, which centers on nine strangers who embark on a 10-day wellness retreat together with the promise it will change their lives. But does that happen? Or is something more malevolent at play? That's what you'll spend eight episodes trying to find out. 

So what makes Nine Perfect Strangers the perfect companion to Big Little Lies? Well, several things. For one, Moriarty wrote the source material for each. Also: The screenwriter for BLL, David E. Kelley, is one of the brains behind Nine Perfect Strangers. So each show has that twisty-turny DNA that will keep you hooked week after week. 

But the greatest similarity is by far the casting. Nicole Kidman leads the charge on Nine Perfect Strangers as Marsha, owner of Tranquillum House, the wellness center that promises transformation for all who enter. She's joined by a bevy of A-listers, much like she was in BLL. Melissa McCarthy, Bobby Cannavale, Regina Hall, and Luke Evans all play folks who decide to go to Tranquillum House for various reasons—and their stories throughout the episodes are intriguing, heartbreaking, and even comedic at times. 

“There's a lot of energy [around this show] and its similarities to Big Little Lies and The Undoing,” Manny Jacinto, who plays Tranquillum House staffer Yao, tells Glamour. “If people are fans of those two shows, I think they'll have the same admiration for this one. It's a good, really enthralling story in regards to how all these strangers are coming together, the conflicts they're having, and how they're all connected.”  

Adds Grace van Patten, who plays another TH guest named Zoe, “The show shines a light on our culture's obsession with wellness and self-transformation and self-improvement and wanting it so quickly, at the snap of your fingers, and not really wanting to go deep and reach into the places where you're afraid to reach to.” 

The fear of going deep is a central theme in Nine Perfect Strangers–and it contributes to its unnerving tone. When the guests first arrive at Tranquillum House, it's bright, airy, and beautiful. They're given smoothies tailor-made to their medical needs. Some of them go for a dip in a hot spring; others lounge by the pool. Everything is so relaxed, so breezy, so pleasant. 

But slowly but surely that veneer cracks. Marsha—played enigmatically by Kidman—is hiding a big secret, one we're made aware of through a series of ominous threats. The guests are hiding secrets, too. I won't say much if you haven't read the book, but in short: Not everyone is there for wellness. Do with that information what you will. 

“Without revealing too much, [my character] has a moment with Marsha very, very early on the first day, and she kind of looks through him and sees him,” Cannavale tells Screen Rant.  “I think that frightens him, and I think it's what keeps him coming back for more. And I think little by little, we figure out what that is that she possesses and why she's so good at what she does." 

But that's the thing: What does Marsha do? What does the wellness industry do in general? That's a major theme in Nine Perfect Strangers: deconstructing the ways we try to better ourselves and asking if any of it is helping. Are we healing or just wasting our time? Is it all just a scam? Is it bullshit?

That's a question viewers have to answer for themselves. Nine Perfect Strangers may not help you do that fully–but it helps you get there. And you have an incredible time along the way.

Nine Perfect Strangers is now streaming on Hulu. 

Christopher Rosa is the entertainment editor at Glamour. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.

This story originally appeared on: Glamour - Author:Condé Nast