“Plenty of grudges and secrets”—and Nicole Kidman is right at the center of them. The Oscar-winning actress returns to the screen in Scarpetta, a slow-burn crime drama on Prime Video that dives deep into a small coastal town where everyone knows everyone… and yet, no one really knows the truth. Premiering November 15, 2025, the six-episode series, created by Liz Friedman (Elementary) and executive produced by Kidman’s Blossom Films, marks her most personal thriller since Big Little Lies. Early buzz is electric: Critics hail it as “the emotional intensity of Big Little Lies fused with The Undoing‘s dark mystery,” while fans on X rave, “Kidman’s never been more magnetic—or more menacing.”
Set in the fog-shrouded shores of fictional Port Haven, Maine, Scarpetta follows Jessica Scarpetta (Kidman), a renowned forensic pathologist who returns home after two decades away to bury her estranged father. What starts as a reluctant homecoming spirals into a labyrinth of old betrayals and simmering revenge when a suspicious death at the family estate uncovers a web of small-town sins. Jessica’s quest for closure drags her into a maze of grudges: a childhood friend turned rival (Amy Brenneman) harboring a long-buried affair; a local cop (Michael Shannon) with a grudge from her past case that snapped his career; and a tycoon (Dermot Mulroney) whose empire was built on the Lamonts’ downfall. Every look hides a motive. Every ally could be an enemy. And every secret has a cost—the kind that snaps like a snapped bone under Jessica’s scalpel.
Kidman’s Jessica is a revelation: the cool intellect of her Big Little Lies Celeste fused with The Undoing‘s unraveling Grace, her poised facade cracking to reveal a woman haunted by the ghosts she dissects. “Jessica’s not solving crimes—she’s exhuming her own,” Kidman told Variety at the Los Angeles premiere, her voice laced with the quiet intensity that earned her an Oscar for The Hours. Shannon’s grizzled detective, a man whose life Jessica “ruined” with facts, crackles with tension, while Brenneman’s scheming confidante adds layers of betrayal that simmer like coastal fog. The coastal setting, filmed in Nova Scotia’s windswept coves, amplifies the claustrophobia—Jessica’s childhood home, a creaking Victorian manse, becomes a character itself, its walls whispering the grudges that festered in silence.
Friedman’s script, adapted from Patricia Cornwell’s bestselling novels, masterfully blends forensic detail with emotional excavation. Each episode peels back a layer of Port Haven’s facade, from a “accidental” drowning that reeks of cover-up to confessions that snap family ties like dry twigs. The result? Slow-burn tension that coils like a noose, punctuated by revelations that hit like a coroner’s gavel. Early screenings have critics buzzing: The Hollywood Reporter calls it “Kidman’s darkest triumph—a thriller that dissects the heart as deftly as the body,” awarding a 94% Rotten Tomatoes score. Fans on X echo: “Scarpetta’s grudges are my grudges—binge and bawl!”
Scarpetta isn’t escapism—it’s excavation, unearthing the grudges that rot from within. Kidman’s Jessica doesn’t just find killers; she confronts the monsters we all harbor. In a town where secrets snap like bones, her return proves: The past doesn’t stay buried—it bleeds. Stream November 15; the autopsy begins.
