Nine Perfect Strangers is coming to Amazon Prime Video, plus new Australian commissions

With a top cast and an intriguing premise, it’s the TV series everyone is waiting for. And now we finally know how we can watch it.

The star-studded and highly anticipated drama Nine Perfect Strangers finally has an Australian home.

The miniseries starring huge names including Nicole Kidman, Melissa McCarthy, Michael Shannon and Luke Evans will be available to stream in Australia on Amazon Prime Video.

A release date has not been confirmed, only “later this year”.

The series attracted fevered attention in Australia when the high-profile production moved to Byron Bay last year as a result of COVID, one of many film and TV projects that were shooting in the picturesque NSW Northern Rivers region at the time.

The Nine Perfect Strangers production brought with it Hollywood actors that also included Regina Hall, The Good Place’s Manny Jacinto, Bobby Cannavale, Grace Van Patten, Tiffany Boone and Melvin Gregg, along with Australian cast Asher Keddie and Samara Weaving.

How do you even fit this many stars in one show?

Nine Perfect Strangers is set in a wellness resort run by a woman named Masha (Kidman), who welcomes nine clients into her realm. Each is burdened by their stressed-out lives and hopes to find some healing during the 10-day retreat.

Nine Perfect Stranger’s star-studded cast includes Melissa McCarthy.

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But peace and quiet doesn’t make for good drama so you can bet something else is going on. The series released a disquieting trailer last month which hinted that all is not well.

Adapted from a book by popular author Liane Moriarty (Big Little Lies), the series was co-created by John Henry Butterworth and prolific TV writer and producer David E. Kelley. Long Shot and Warm Bodies director Jonathan Levine helmed all the episode while Bruna Papandrea (The Dry, Big Little Lies, The Undoing) is executive producer through her company Made Up Stories.

Papandrea said it was so exciting to have had the production based in Australia and that the international stars wholeheartedly embraced the opportunity to film here, especially during a pandemic when people “were so grateful just to be back working”.

She also pointed to her and Kidman’s relationship with Moriarty after Big Little Lies in helping to secure the rights to the writer’s book.

Obviously some unorthodox wellness techniques.

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The global acquisition (outside of the US) of Nine Perfect Strangers was among a raft of announcements at Amazon Prime Video’s local showcase event, Prime Video Presents.

Amazon revealed it commissioned seven new original Australian series, ranging from documentary series and features, comedies and scripted drama.

Among the highlights is a comedy series called Deadloch, written by Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan, often dubbed The Kates. The comedy team is best known for ABC shows The Katering Show and Get Krack!n. Deadloch is described as a feminist noir comedy with a mounting body count. It will be filmed in Tasmania in November.

There’s also a splashy drama series called The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, based on Holly Ringland’s book. Created by established TV writer Sarah Lambert (Lambs of God) and to be directed by Glendyn Ivin (Penguin Bloom, The Cry), the series is about a woman whose violent childhood continues to haunt her.

The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart will star Sigourney Weaver and will be filmed in Australia. Papandrea is also an executive producer on the series.

Writer and director Kacie Anning (Upload, The Other Guy) will start filming in December a series called Class of ’07, a comedy set during a 10-year high school reunion which is disrupted when an apocalyptic tidal wave hits. Old feuds will be rekindled in the battle for survival.

There is also a sketch comedy series, The Moth Effect, from Nick Boshier (Bondi Hipsters) and Jazz Twemlow (Tonightly) which will feature actors including Bryan Brown, Miranda Otto, David Wenham, Zoe Coombs Marr and Christiaan van Vuuren.

The documentary commissions include Warriors on the Field, centred on Indigenous AFL players, Head Above Water, a four-part docuseries about elite swimmers including Ian Thorpe, Bronte Campbell and Cody Simpson, and Burning, a Cate Blanchett-produced feature about the Australian bushfire season.

The new commissions join previously announced titles Back to the Rafters, Luxe Listings Sydney, Kick Like Tayla and The Wilds season two.

The American streamer said it has invested $150 million and created 2500 jobs in the local industry.

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