''We All Have Secrets''

On Hulu’s eerie Nine Perfect Strangers, the clients at an exclusive wellness spa have as much to hide as the mysterious owner

- KATE HAHN

HOW MUCH WOULD you risk to soothe your deepest personal pain? In this suspenseful limited series based on Liane Moriarty’s bestselling 2018 novel, nine people from different worlds, all desperate to find happiness, put themselves in the hands of strange self-made guru Masha Dmitrichenko (a simultaneously ethereal and menacing Nicole Kidman). But her luxe, remote California healing retreat, Tranquillum House, demands more intense self-examination than they expected—and her treatment methods turn bizarre.

Or, as director Jonathan Levine says, “It gets pretty bats--t crazy.” Think screaming exercises and food deprivation. “Masha is weird, intense, and magical,” he continues. Levine helmed all eight episodes, co-written by hitmaker David E. Kelley, who adapted Moriarty’s Big Little Lies starring Kidman as well. The shoot, in Byron Bay, Australia (two resort locations served as Tranquillum), helped maintain the series’ cutoff-from-the-world vibe: The cast was already isolated due to the pandemic; plus, Kidman and Levine cooked up a plan for the ensemble to meet the actress for the first time in the scene where the characters initially encounter Masha.