Nicole Kidman is on a roll with her HBO show Big Little Lies, and now she’s starring in another series about mystery and intrigue — and a band of friends. Will this ensemble story feature more or less murder than BLL? Well, knowing Kidman, she’s putting her talents behind a story that will have us glued to the screen.
Vulture reports that Kidman has signed onto a new series called The Expatriates (based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Janice Y.K. Lee) for Amazon Prime Video. But Kidman isn’t just starring in the series as an actor — she’ll also be producing it with her production company, Blossom Films. Screenwriter Alice Bell is set to pen the series; her previous credits include ABC’s The Beautiful Lie and indie murder film Suburban Mayhem. We’re stoked to see that women are on hand in every aspect of this production.
What will The Expatriates be about? If it mirrors the book, we’ll see Kidman’s gift of portraying eerie characters come back to life — in the form of an expat living abroad. Lee’s 2016 novel follows a group of American women living in Hong Kong; each have arrived to the city for various reasons, including work, marriage, and a need for a huge life change. These women find their lives intertwined when tragedy strikes, but struggle with cultural and language barriers. Lee doesn’t shy away from exposing their privilege, either: for one character, her luxurious life becomes dangerously constricting.
Still, with a writing team that includes murder chops and wildly eager fanbase, we suspect that Kidman’s adaptation will include some kind of whodunnit death. We’re not going to spoil the book, but we’d put our money on another mind-twisting mystery. Luckily, since the show will premiere on Amazon, we can binge-watch the entire thing in one sitting. We’re ordering our Seamless and stocking our fridge with La Croix in advance.