New Nicole Kidman Thriller Moves Ahead At Paramount+ With Elle Fanning & Josh Lucas
A new Nicole Kidman thriller is officially moving forward.
Paramount+ has been building out an increasingly diverse slate of original dramas, from sprawling Westerns to female-led thrillers and espionage stories. The streamer has also continued leaning on recognizable stars to anchor its original programming, giving new series an immediate draw before audiences have even seen a trailer. That strategy continues with its latest thriller, which brings together three major names for a story built around power, secrets, and corporate corruption.
Academy Award Winner · Screen Legend
Nicole Kidman
Filmography Challenge
🏆Oscar
RolesAnd the award goes to…
👁ThrillersEyes wide open
📺Prestige
TVSmall screen, big talent
🎞Epic
FilmsSpectacle & glamour
⭐IconA career unmatched
01
Nicole Kidman won her first Academy Award for Best Actress for her transformative portrayal of a legendary author battling depression in 1920s England. She wore a prosthetic nose that became iconic. Which film earned her the Oscar?
✓ Correct! The Hours (2002) earned Kidman the Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Virginia Woolf. Her physical transformation — including that famous prosthetic nose — was so complete that audiences barely recognized her. It remains one of her most celebrated performances.
✗ Cut! The answer is The Hours. While Moulin Rouge! earned her a nomination, Cold Mountain came after, and Rabbit Hole earned another nom, it was her transformative turn as Virginia Woolf in The Hours that won her the Academy Award in 2003.
02
Kidman won an Emmy for her raw portrayal of Celeste Wright, a woman hiding domestic abuse behind a picture-perfect Monterey lifestyle. She starred alongside Reese Witherspoon in this HBO hit. Which series is it?
✓ Correct! Big Little Lies (2017) was a cultural phenomenon, and Kidman’s searing performance as Celeste won her the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress. The series also starred Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley, Laura Dern, and Zoë Kravitz.
✗ Cut! The answer is Big Little Lies. Nine Perfect Strangers and The Undoing are also Kidman TV projects, and Expats aired on Prime Video, but it was Big Little Lies that earned her the Emmy and became a defining role of her television career.
03
In Baz Luhrmann’s dazzling 2001 musical, Kidman plays Satine, a courtesan and star performer at a legendary Parisian nightclub. She falls in love with a penniless writer played by Ewan McGregor. Which film is this?
✓ Correct! Moulin Rouge! (2001) showcased Kidman’s singing ability and cemented her as a global superstar. The film’s mashup of pop songs, dazzling visuals, and tragic love story earned it two Oscars and a Best Actress nomination for Kidman.
✗ Cut! The answer is Moulin Rouge! Chicago starred Renée Zellweger, Nine featured multiple actresses but not Kidman in a lead role, and The Greatest Showman starred Hugh Jackman. Kidman’s Satine remains one of cinema’s most glamorous roles.
04
Kidman starred opposite her then-husband Tom Cruise in Stanley Kubrick’s final film — a provocative psychological drama about jealousy, desire, and a mysterious masked ball. Which 1999 film was this?
✓ Correct! Eyes Wide Shut (1999) was Stanley Kubrick’s final masterpiece, released just days after his death. Kidman and Cruise played a married couple whose relationship unravels over the course of one surreal night. The film’s secretive production took over 400 days of shooting.
✗ Cut! The answer is Eyes Wide Shut. Far and Away (1992) was an earlier Kidman-Cruise pairing, Malice was a 1993 thriller, and The Others (2001) was a solo Kidman vehicle. Only Eyes Wide Shut was Kubrick’s legendary final film.
05
Kidman starred alongside Hugh Jackman in Baz Luhrmann’s sweeping 2008 epic set in the Northern Territory on the eve of World War II. She plays a British aristocrat who inherits a cattle station. Which film is this?
✓ Correct! Australia (2008) reunited Kidman with director Baz Luhrmann for a sprawling romantic adventure across the outback. While it received mixed reviews, the film was a love letter to Kidman’s home country and featured stunning cinematography of the Northern Territory.
✗ Cut! The answer is Australia. The Interpreter (2005) was a political thriller with Sean Penn, Far and Away (1992) was set in Ireland and America, and Lion (2016) featured Kidman in a supporting role as an adoptive mother. Australia was the Luhrmann-Jackman epic.
06
In this 2020 HBO limited series, Kidman plays a Manhattan therapist whose seemingly perfect life shatters when her husband — played by Hugh Grant — becomes the prime suspect in a brutal murder. Which series is this?
✓ Correct! The Undoing (2020) was a gripping whodunit that had audiences obsessing over Kidman’s statement coats almost as much as the murder mystery. Based on Jean Hanff Korelitz’s novel, the series became HBO’s most-watched debut since Big Little Lies.
✗ Cut! The answer is The Undoing. Big Little Lies was Kidman’s earlier HBO hit, Nine Perfect Strangers aired on Hulu, and The Perfect Couple was a Netflix series. The Undoing paired Kidman with Hugh Grant in a Manhattan murder mystery that became a cultural event.
07
In 2024, Kidman earned widespread acclaim and a Venice Film Festival Best Actress award for playing a powerful CEO who enters a risky affair with a much younger intern. This provocative erotic drama was directed by Halina Reijn. What is the film?
✓ Correct! Babygirl (2024) starred Kidman opposite Harris Dickinson in a bold exploration of power, desire, and control. Her fearless performance won the Volpi Cup at Venice and earned her a sixth Oscar nomination, proving she remains at the peak of her craft decades into her career.
✗ Cut! The answer is Babygirl. The Perfect Couple was a Netflix series, A Family Affair was a lighter Netflix rom-com with Zac Efron, and Expats was a Prime Video drama. Babygirl was the daring A24 film that won Kidman the Venice Best Actress prize.
08
Kidman’s Oscar-winning role in The Hours required her to portray a real historical figure — a novelist struggling with mental illness in 1920s Richmond, England, while writing her masterpiece Mrs Dalloway. Who did Kidman play?
✓ Correct! Kidman portrayed Virginia Woolf in The Hours, capturing the author’s brilliance and anguish with devastating subtlety. The film interweaves Woolf’s story with two other women across different eras, all connected by her novel Mrs Dalloway. It’s widely considered Kidman’s finest work.
✗ Cut! The answer is Virginia Woolf. Sylvia Plath was portrayed by Gwyneth Paltrow in Sylvia, Jane Austen by Anne Hathaway in Becoming Jane, and Emily Dickinson by Cynthia Nixon in A Quiet Passion. Kidman’s Woolf remains one of the greatest biographical performances in film history.
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Discretion Begins Production At Paramount+
Paramount+ has officially begun production on Discretion, an eight-episode legal thriller starring Nicole Kidman, Elle Fanning, and Josh Lucas. The series is being produced by A24 and is scheduled to launch globally on Paramount+ in 2027.
Discretion follows Lenny, a summer associate at a prestigious Dallas law firm who discovers a web of nondisclosure agreements hiding a dark secret. The situation becomes even more complicated when Lenny realizes that she signed the same agreement, putting her directly in the crosshairs of the firm's most powerful female partner, Sharon, played by Kidman.
What begins as a mentor-protégé relationship between Sharon and Lenny quickly becomes something much more dangerous, with the series asking how far powerful people will go to protect their secrets and who ultimately pays the price for keeping them.
Kidman and Fanning give the series an especially notable central dynamic. Kidman has become one of the most recognizable stars in prestige television, especially on Paramount+ with Lioness, which just entered its third season. Fanning has continued taking on increasingly complex roles across the big screen and the silver screen. Lucas rounds out the previously announced cast, adding another established name to the legal thriller.
The cast has also expanded with two new series regulars. Golden Globe and Emmy nominee Stephan James will play Logan, a sharp corporate associate who becomes a mentor to Lenny. Colton Ryan will portray Boone, Lenny's ex-boyfriend and a recovering addict from an affluent Dallas family who is nine months sober and living in a halfway house while attempting to rebuild his life.
The series comes from Chandler Baker, the New York Times bestselling author behind Whisper Network and The Husbands. Baker wrote the series and serves as an executive producer, adapting Discretion from her short story.
Discretion also arrives as Paramount+ continues expanding its lineup of female-driven dramas and thrillers. The streamer has already found success with projects built around complicated female protagonists, while Taylor Sheridan's growing Paramount+ universe has demonstrated the company's willingness to build long-running franchises around strong central characters.
The latest announcement gives Paramount+ another potential prestige thriller to add to that growing slate, particularly as Lioness continues attracting attention on the streaming service.
While details about the plot beyond the central premise remain limited, the creative team suggests that Discretion is being positioned as more than a conventional courtroom drama. The story's focus on NDAs, corporate power, and the consequences of exposing hidden wrongdoing gives the series plenty of room to explore the personal stakes alongside its mystery.
Paramount+ has not yet announced an exact premiere date for Discretion. Production is now underway, however, meaning more details about the series, including additional casting and a first look, should emerge in the coming months.