You Need To Stream Nicole Kidman’s Dark New Drama Series

By Douglas Helm | Published

A performance by Nicole Kidman is almost always worth watching, and her new TV series, Expats, is no exception. The dark drama miniseries features stellar performances from Kidman and the rest of the cast, along with deft direction from Lulu Wang. You can stream the series now on Amazon Prime Video.

Expats Is Based On A Novel

Nicole Kidman stars in Expats as Margaret Woo, who is part of a close-knit expatriate community in Hong Kong that also includes Hillary Star (Sarayu Blue) and Mercy Cho (Ji-young Yoo). The plot tells an interweaving tale of Margaret’s guilt over the disappearance of her youngest son,  Hillary’s trials with her failing marriage, and Mercy’s continual self-destructive choices. The series is based on the novel The Expatriates by Janice YK Lee and also stars Brian Tee, Tiana Gowen, Bodhi del Rosario, Ruby Ruiz, Amelyn Pardenilla, and Jack Huston.

A Breakout Series

Nicole Kidman, Sarayu Blue, and Ji-young Yoo anchor Expats with a trio of riveting performances, and the series has been getting great reviews from critics. Of course, this isn’t necessarily new for Kidman, whose pivot to prestige TV roles has proven to be a genius career move. While Kidman made her name in Hollywood mostly through her iconic film performances, she actually had one of her breakout roles in the 1989 miniseries Bangkok Hilton, so this is actually more of a return to form.

Kidman’s Hot Streak

Nicole Kidman is wowing critics and audiences with her performance in Expats, but this is no surprise. Kidman has been on a TV hot streak since she kicked off her TV career resurgence with 2017’s Top of the Lake: China Girl. The same year, she starred in one of her biggest and best TV roles in the HBO series Big Little Lies, which ran from 2017-2019. She followed that with 2020’s The Undoing, 2021’s Nine Perfect Strangers, and 2023’s Special Ops: Lioness.

More Emmys In Her Future

Nicole Kidman nabbed the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress for her performance in Big Little Lies and also got an Outstanding Limited Series win since she was an executive producer. Nicole Kidman is also an executive producer on Expats, so there’s always a chance she could repeat those Emmy wins at the next show. Her performance will likely at least earn her a nomination since you can’t really count Kidman out when it comes to awards season.

A Powerhouse Career On Streaming

Nicole Kidman also won’t be slowing down her career in TV anytime soon after Expats, as she is set to star in and executive produce upcoming shows for Netflix, Amazon, HBO, and Apple. It’s not often that someone can have projects in the works for most of the major streaming services, but Kidman is one of the few who can pull it off. She also has a project lined up called Things I Know to Be True, based on the Australian play of the same name, which is set to have multiple seasons rather than be a miniseries.

In short, there are a lot more Nicole Kidman TV roles to look forward to in the future. In the meantime, Expats is ready to stream now and well worth your time. Check it out on Amazon Prime Video.