HBO is re-teaming three of the driving forces behind “Big Little Lies” for the its next big miniseries.
The pay cabler has ordered “The Undoing” from Nicole Kidman, David E. Kelley, and Bruna Papandrea. Kidman will executive produce with her Blossom Films partner Per Saari and star in the adaptation of Jean Hanff Korelitz’s novel “You Should Have Known.” Kelly will serve as executive producer, writer, and showrunner. Papandrea will exec produce through her company Made Up Stories.
“We’re thrilled to continue our creative relationships with both Nicole and David,” said HBO programming president Casey Bloys. “and can’t wait to bring this show to life.”
“The Undoing,” reunites Kidman, Kelley, and Papandrea, who worked together on HBO’s Emmy-winning “Big Little Lies.” The new miniseries will star Kidman as Grace Sachs, described as living the only life she ever wanted for herself. She’s a successful therapist on the brink of publishing her first book, has a devoted husband and young son who attends an elite private school in New York City. Weeks before her book is published, a chasm opens in her life: a violent death, a missing husband, and, in the place of a man Grace thought she knew, only a chain of terrible revelations. Left behind in the wake of a spreading and very public disaster, and horrified by the ways in which she has failed to heed her own advice, Grace must dismantle one life and create another for her child and herself.
A search for a director for the miniseries is underway.
“David has created another propulsive series with a fascinating, complicated female role at its center,” said Kidman. “I’m excited and honored to continue collaborating with HBO and David E Kelley.”
“I loved this book,” said Kelley, “A character driven psychological thriller, I’m excited about the adaptation and thrilled to be able to do it with Nicole and HBO.”
The straight-to-series order comes three months after HBO gave an official greenlight to a “Big Little Lies” sequel, bringing back Kidman, Kelley, and Papandrea as well as star and executive producer Reese Witherspoon and most of the first miniseries’ original cast. Meryl Streep has also signed on to star in the sequel, with Andrea Arnold set to direct.
(Excerpt) Read More in: Variety