How ‘Nine Perfect Strangers’ Went Off-Book and Leveled Up in Season 2

Bruna Papandrea tells TheWrap about evolving Nicole Kidman's Masha Dmitrichenko and bringing a fresh crop of guests to the wellness retreat The post How ‘Nine Perfect Strangers’ Went Off-Book and Leveled Up in Season 2 appeared first on TheWrap.

May 21, 2025 - 19:40

How ‘Nine Perfect Strangers’ Went Off-Book and Leveled Up in Season 2

While Hulu series “Nine Perfect Strangers” used Liane Moriarty’s novel of the same name as the backbone of the Nicole Kidman-led series, Season 2 prompted the team — led by creator David E. Kelley — to go off-book as they crafted the second act of Nicole Kidman’s Masha Dmitrichenko.

Moriarty, who did not write a follow-up book to “Nine Perfect Strangers,” gave the team her blessing for a second installment of the series, which was renewed by Hulu for a Season 2 in June 2023, well after Season 1 first premiered in 2021. And since “Nine Perfect Strangers” first premiered nearly four years ago, EP Bruna Papandrea noted psilocybin (a.k.a. magic mushrooms) have been embraced tenfold, opening the door for countless stories unlocking past traumas.

“There’s no underlying material at all, no ongoing story,” Papandrea told TheWrap, noting that Season 2 picks up with Masha’s past controversies having been written about and publicized heavily. “How can she continue to surprise and evolve and escalate the protocol?”

While Masha’s exploits at Tranquillum have been the subject of a buzzy New Yorker profile, the controversy doesn’t stop a new crop of guests weighed down by trauma from seeking her healing guidance at Zauberwald, a wellness resort in Austria where the biting cold provides a stark contrast to Season 1’s breezy Australian oasis.

“There is something very ominous when you’re dealing with the elements of snow and storms,” Papandrea said, noting the striking visuals of a snow covered landscape. “It’s slightly more isolating, which I love, because I think it kind of plays into what all the characters are going through.”

This time around, Masha welcomes several new guests into the fold in a mother and daughter looking to heal from past trauma (played by Annie Murphy and Christine Baranski), a former Mr. Rogers-type facing backlash after an outburst on set (Murray Bartlett), a nun having a crisis of faith (Dolly de Leon), a child music prodigy (King Princess) whose girlfriend (Maisie Richardson-Sellers) brings her to the retreat to get past her mental block as well as a high profile father-son duo (Henry Golding and Mark Strong).

“We’re delving into a lot of different things in this season, in terms of what the individuals are dealing with,” Papandrea said. “For some it’s cancelation culture, For some, it’s crisis of faith. For others, it’s that mother-daughter dynamic.”

Papandrea noted that Season 1, which featured a family that had lost a child, taught the team how to toe the line between comedic moments of levity and serious subject matter — a balance the executive producer said they honed in HBO’s “Big Little Lies,” which Papandrea produced alongside Kelley. “I love things that lean into genre, but I also think, even in the darkness, there is light,” Papandrea said. “What we learned in season one is it can handle both those things.”

Season 2’s comedic moments can be seen from the start, when Bartlett’s Brian throws a fit when he loses his luggage on the gondola up to the resort, or with any moments between Murphy and Baranski after Murphy’s Imogen realizes that her mother brought a younger, Italian stallion to the resort as her date — sexiling Murphy to find another room during her stay.

“My experience, particularly with actors who we know more as comedic actors, is they are often the best dramatic actors as well,” Papandrea said of Murphy, adding that Baranski’s casting as Victoria was a no-brainer. “You really needed someone who could just play that really sophisticated matriarch and play the different layers of that character … I think that’ll be one of the public’s favorite things is that mother-daughter story.”

As Kidman returned to the role of Masha, she wanted to level up for Season 2, with Papandrea noting she was instrumental in picking out the installment’s locale and casting the all-star ensemble. “Nicole never really wants to do the same thing twice — she’s of the feeling of, ‘If I’m going to do it, I want to take it to another level, or do something really interesting,'” Papandrea said. “She’s not afraid of taking risks and being bold, which is one of the things I love about working with her.”

This season, Masha gets a makeover from her breezy vibe in the first season to a more European look, complete with blunt platinum bangs, which Papandrea said she hopes prompts a renaissance. While Masha’s evolved her look and her setting, Papandrea notes she remains stuck as she attempts to heal from the loss of her daughter.

“Is this going to be the season where she can let go of her?” Papandrea said. “Even though she says she has, obviously she hasn’t, and nor would many people, I think, in that situation. That’s a really emotional place to start her, and then see how that evolves throughout the season.”

Season 2 adds some intrigue when it’s revealed in Episode 2 that Masha has a history with one of her guests (Mark Strong), a wealthy businessman she’s hoping might invest in the wellness retreat, as well as a past with the Austrian center itself.

“There’s a whole part of her history, obviously, between Russia and Prague that we don’t know about — we just kind of have a general sense of what happened with her daughter, and that she’d gone to America to reinvent herself,” Papandrea said. “We knew this season was an opportunity to dig deeper into what happened in her past.”

“Nine Perfect Strangers” Season 2, Episodes 1 and 2 are now streaming on Hulu, with new episodes debuting weekly.

The post How ‘Nine Perfect Strangers’ Went Off-Book and Leveled Up in Season 2 appeared first on TheWrap.