Nicole Kidman will star alongside Elle Fanning in a new eight-part legal thriller that sparked a big bidding war among streaming services.

The Oscar-winning Australian actress – who made an elegant appearance at Paris Fashion Week on Monday following her highly publicised split from husband Keith Urban – will play a powerful corporate lawyer in Discretion and is also an executive producer of the series.

Discretion is based on a short story by New York Times bestselling author Chandler Baker, whose novel The Husbands has also been adapted for a TV series starring Kirstin Wiig and, who co-wrote the upcoming Christmas comedy film Oh. What. Fun., featuring Michelle Pfeiffer and Eva Longoria.

Baker was a corporate lawyer before embarking on her writing career and based the short story on her experiences negotiating hundreds of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).

In Discretion, Fanning plays Lenny, a summer associate at a prestigious Dallas law firm, while Kidman’s character, Sharon, is one of her bosses. During her tenure, Lenny uncovers “a web of NDAs masking a dark truth”.

“When she realises she signed the same agreement, her discoveries put her in the crosshairs of the firm’s most powerful female partner, Sharon, upending their mentor-protégé dynamic and raising the question: Who gets to keep secrets, and at what cost?” says the official summary of the series.

Entertainment company A24 acquired the production rights to Baker’s story, which she says she wrote in just two days.

Paramount+ announced this week that it had secured the streaming rights for Discretion after a bidding frenzy that reportedly involved multiple offers to take the story straight to a series. Production is expected to begin next year.

It is not the first time Kidman (Babygirl) and Fanning (The Great) have worked together. The pair previously co-starred in writer-director Sofia Coppola’s 2017 gothic thriller The Beguiled and science-fiction rom-com How to Talk to Girls at Parties, released the same year.

They will also appear together in David E Kelley’s Margo’s Got Money Troubles, a drama series about a young, broke single mother who starts an OnlyFans account to support herself and her baby, which is expected to be released on Apple TV+ in 2026.

In addition to starring in Discretion, the two actresses will be executive producers, alongside Baker, Susannah Grant (Erin Brockovich), Per Saari (with whom Kidman co-founded her production company Blossom Films), Dakota Fanning (Elle’s sister), Brittany Kahan Ward, Jordan Cerf and Joe Hipps.

Kidman has been as in demand as ever in recent years, and can be seen in the latest seasons of streaming hits Nine Perfect Strangers and Lioness , as well as The Perfect Couple. All three are also produced by Kidman’s Blossom Films.

 

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She also has a string of other projects in the works to keep her busy as she moves on from country music star Urban.

In addition to Margo’s Got Money Troubles, the actress recently finished filming Practical Magic 2, Warner Bros’ sequel to the 1998 film in which she and Sandra Bullock play two sisters who descend from a long line of witches.

Kidman posted a video from the set on Instagram in July with the caption “The witches are back”. The movie is expected to be released in September next year.

The third season of Big Little Lies, the series based on Liane Moriarty’s novel of the same name in which Kidman stars and is an executive producer alongside Reece Witherspoon, is in development. A third season of Lioness has just been announced by Paramount and there is talk of a second season of Netflix’s The Perfect Couple.

Kidman will also soon be seen playing the title character in Prime’s crime drama series Scarpetta, based on author Patricia Cornwell’s bestselling novels about medical examiner Kay Scarpetta. Although the release date hasn’t been announced, Prime has already ordered a second season of the show, which features Jamie Lee Curtis as Scarpetta’s sister Dorothy.

“I’ve been pursuing Scarpetta for nearly 20 years, going back to when it was intended to be a feature,” Kidman, who is also an executive producer of the series, said last year, describing Cornwell’s books as “epic and thrilling”

Nicole Kidman will play medical examiner Kay Scarpetta in an upcoming crime series. Photo: Prime / YouTube

Meanwhile, the actress is keeping busy with off-set engagements, speaking at a charity auction in Dallas, Texas, on the weekend. She was also spotted last week hiking with her sister Antonia on trails near Kidman’s home in Nashville.

Kidman and Urban have been red-carpet fixtures throughout their two-decade relationship, with Urban joining his wife at the Oscars and Kidman attending music events like the Academy of Country Music Awards.

However, the pair have reportedly been living apart since June. Kidman cited “irreconcilable differences” when filing the divorce paperwork, and she and Urban are said to have already worked out a custody agreement and child support for their children Sunday Rose, 17, and Faith Margaret, 14.