Nicole Kidman has been a silver screen icon for decades. Yet like many A-listers, fans sometimes overlook just how strong her small-screen game is.
She may not rack up dozens of TV credits, but when she shows up, Kidman delivers. Whether she’s unraveling secrets in glossy, prestige dramas or popping in for a scene-stealing cameo, Kidman proves that star power doesn’t have to shrink just because the screen does.
Fresh off the second season of "Nine Perfect Strangers," her TV track record keeps expanding in surprising, genre-bending ways. Whether you’re rewatching or just catching up, these five Nicole Kidman shows are more than worth the stream.
'Nine Perfect Strangers'
Everyone loves a good cult story — unless you’re in one. In arguably one of Kidman’s best TV roles, she headlines the show “Nine Perfect Strangers” as a "guru" named Masha, who runs a wellness retreat. The only catch? The "wellness" is served with a heavy dose of psychedelics and manipulation.
Based on Liane Moriarty’s book by the same name, the 2021 show debuted as a miniseries. You know a streaming series is popular when it gets an unplanned second season. That’s right: “Nine Perfect Strangers” snagged a renewal and the season 2 finale recently aired.
Watch on Hulu
'The Undoing'
Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant were the iconic 2020 mashup we didn’t know we needed. The intense psychological thriller miniseries “The Undoing” features Kidman as a seemingly normal therapist whose life gets turned upside-down when she contends with the fact that her missing husband, Jonathan, is a prime suspect in a murder investigation. Awkward.
Equal parts mystery and thriller as the stakes build with each episode. There’s an argument that the stars shine brighter than the relatively run-of-the-mill mystery, but the acting and stunning cinematography more than make up for it. As for Kidman? Her character's intense unraveling yet again proves her range.
Watch on Max
'Special Ops: Lioness'
A lioness doesn’t just guard her cubs; she gets intel, too. The term also refers to a former military program helmed by female soldiers. They were tasked with searching, befriending, and getting intel from women and children in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In this series created by Taylor Sheridan, Kidman plays CIA senior supervisor Kaitlyn Meade, who oversees the Lioness field team. No pressure!
Kidman toggles between being a straight-laced, no-nonsense CIA supervisor with a stellar poker face and a sly lioness whose emotions and cunning personality occasionally slip out. The layered performance is fascinating to watch.
The cast includes other heavy hitters like Zoe Saldoña (Joe), Morgan Freeman (Edwin Mullins) and Dave Annable (Neal).
Watch on Paramount Plus
'The Perfect Couple'
A perfect couple’s perfection is only perfect on the page. Say that three times fast. In this murder mystery, Nicole Kidman’s Greer built her thriving writing career on her seemingly storybook marriage with Tag (Liev Schreiber), a scion of one of the richest families in Nantucket who is harboring more than a few secrets. Until one of those secrets ends up in a body bag.
Of course, Greer is a suspect, along with her entire family. And despite writing about crime for a living, she doesn’t particularly try to look innocent. Kidman’s nuanced portrayal of the deeply flawed matriarch makes audiences love and hate her in the same moment. That’s not exactly an easy line to straddle. As far as whodunnits go, the twists and turns in “The Perfect Couple” hit as everyone looks shady as hell.
Watch on Netflix
'Big Little Lies'
Ah, yes — another show about a false idyll. As is par for the course, the wealthy moms in “Big Little Lies” are living the high, suburban life in their beach town until a chalk outline ruins the vibes. Hell hath no fury like a soccer mom scorned.
Kidman’s portrayal of Celeste, a domestic abuse victim and mother, is both heartbreaking and brutal to watch. For anyone who might be triggered, this is depicted quite violently on-screen.
Celeste is one of the more kindhearted moms in the bunch, providing a sharp contrast to the show’s more stereotypical suburban Mean Girls. Kidman’s raw performance makes it impossible not to root for Celeste as she navigates her trauma and illustrates the difficulty of leaving an abusive relationship.
The 2017 show marked the first time Kidman worked with series creator David E. Kelley, leading to a longstanding professional relationship. “Big Little Lies” boasts a dynamite cast that includes Reese Witherspoon (Madeline), Shailene Woodley (Jane), Zoë Kravitz (Bonnie) and Laura Dern (Renata).
Though the first two seasons aired between 2017 and 2019, the original novel’s writer, Liane Moriarty, has a sequel in the works. The upcoming book sparked an already-announced 2026 reboot based on the yet-to-be-released sequel. Now that’s trust.
Watch on HBO Max
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