Nicole Kidman’s Nine Perfect Strangers season 2 struggles with low Rotten Tomatoes score

Nicole Kidman returns to her Hulu mystery thriller show in Nine Perfect Strangers season 2. The first season of the series was based on Liane Moriarty's 2018 book, featuring a Californian health and wellness resort, the Tranquillum House, and its founder, Masha Dmitrichenko (Kidman). In season 2, which premiered on May 21, 2025, Kidman is back as the resort director, joined by a slew of brand-new guests.

However, like the first season of Nine Perfect Strangers, the second installment continues the same unfortunate low Rotten Tomatoes score.

At the time of writing, Nine Perfect Strangers season 2 holds a 50% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 14 reviews, which is even lower than the current 59% of the first season, based on 111 reviews.

The low reviews come even with some big names joining the star-studded cast, which includes Murray Bartlett, Henry Golding, Christine Baranski, Dolly de Leon, and more.

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What is Nine Perfect Strangers season 2 all about?

Nine Perfect Strangers season 2 is branching out of Liane Moriarty's original story. From sunny California, the second season will bring the wellness retreat in the snowy Austrian Alps, although the premise remains.

Nine complete strangers head into the Austrian Alps to visit Masha's wellness center for a "transformational" healing journey.

Here's what to expect from the story, per the synopsis:

"Nine new strangers connected in ways they could never imagine are invited by mysterious guru Masha Dmitrichenko to join a transformational wellness retreat in the Austrian Alps. Over the course of a week, she takes to the brink. Will they make it? Will she?"

The synopsis also teases more of Masha's machinations as she is "willing to try anything in the interest of healing everyone involved, including herself." Except for a couple in the group, they are strangers to each other, or so they think.

As their wellness journey unfolds, as teased in the teaser, they may find that there is some connection between them.

Per the trailer, the nine guests aren't the only people in need of healing. Marsha herself seems to be on a downward spiral, which threatens to mess with not only her life but also those of the people she claims she wants to heal.

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Who stars in Nine Perfect Strangers season 2?

The second season of Nine Perfect Strangers follows the first one in that it introduces a series of famous names from TV and films.

Besides Nicole Kidman returning as resort director Masha Dmitrichenko, The White Lotus season 1 star Murray Bartlett is also in the series. He plays the socially anxious puppeteer named Brian.

A Simple Favor and Crazy Rich Asians actor Henry Golding also joins the cast as Peter, with Kingsman star Mark Strong as his billionaire father named David.

Other cast members include Annie Murphy (Schitt's Creek), Christine Baranski (Cruel Intentions), Dolly de Leon (Triangle of Sadness), Maisie Richardson-Sellers (The Originals), singer King Princess, and Lena Olin (Alias).

Turkish actor Aras Aydin will also make his acting debut in Nine Perfect Strangers season 2 alongside Austrian actor Lucas Englander, who previously starred in the Netflix miniseries Transatlantic.

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So far, at the time of writing, only two episodes of Nine Perfect Strangers season 2 are out. It's still early days, so ratings may fluctuate as more reviews come in and as new episodes arrive.

Also, there is currently no audience score for the second season, although season 1 didn't receive any higher at 59%.