EXCLUSIVE: Melissa McCarthy is set to star opposite Nicole Kidman in Hulu’s tentpole limited series Nine Perfect Strangers, based on Big Little Lies author Liane Moriarty’s latest book. Oscar-nominated McCarthy will executive produce alongside Kidman the project, from David E. Kelley, Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories, Kidman’s Blossom Films — all key auspices behind HBO’s hit Big Little Lies adaptation — and Endeavor Content.

This marks McCarthy’s first series regular role since her Emmy-winning starring turn on CBS’ Mike & Molly.

Flatiron/Hulu

Co-written by Kelley, John Henry Butterworth and Samantha Strauss and co-showrun by Kelley and Butterworth, Nine Perfect Strangers the series takes place at a boutique health-and-wellness resort that promises healing and transformation as nine stressed city dwellers try to get on a path to a better way of living. Watching over them during this ten-day retreat is the resort’s director Masha (played by Kidman), a woman on a mission to reinvigorate their tired minds and bodies. McCarthy will play Francis, one of the nine “perfect” strangers.

Papandrea, Steve Hutensky and Casey Haver executive produce for Made Up Stories, along with Kidman and Per Saari for Blossom Films, Moriarty, Kelley and Butterworth. The series is expected to debut on Hulu in 2021 to accommodate its talent’s schedules.

Blossom Films and Made Up Stories closed a pre-emptive deal for TV/film rights to Nine Perfect Strangers, which spent 13 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list, ahead of its November 2018 publication.

In addition to her Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Emmy for Mike & Molly, McCarthy also won a Guest Actress in a Comedy Series Emmy for hosting Saturday Night Live. Since the end of Mike & Molly after six seasons, McCarthy executive produced and recurred as herself on the comedy series Nobodies, which aired on TV Land and Paramount Network for two seasons.

On the film side, McCarthy was recently seen in Can You Ever Forgive Me?, which earned her an Actress Oscar nomination. She’ll next be in a starring role in Superintelligence, opposite Bobby Cannavale and James Corden. McCarthy is repped by CAA and MGMT Entertainment.