Nicole Kidman is certainly keeping busy these days, with multiple projects headed to the big and small screens. The first of those is Scarpetta, the long-awaited book-to-screen adaptation of Patricia Cornwell’s novel series, which premieres March 11 on the 2026 TV schedule. Critics have seen all eight episodes, which will be available to stream with a Prime Video subscription, and they’ve got mixed opinions.
Nicole Kidman, who positively slayed by pairing a blazer with sheer skirt at the series’ premiere, stars as the titular forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta. She’s joined by Jamie Lee Curtis (who executive produces along with Kidman), Ariana DeBose, Bobby Cannavale and more impressive names. Aramide Tinubu of Variety warns that Scarpetta is a gruesome watch, but a sensational one, writing:
Scarpetta is excellent storytelling. Even as the narrative grows more complicated, the show manages to keep the audience grounded in the crimes and Kay’s methodology. It also showcases the thundering misogyny of a bygone era that still echoes around us today, while unpacking the unpleasantness of death, which drastically impacts the living. Most intriguing, though, are the show’s depictions of monstrosity. There are the obvious killers, of course, but Scarpetta proves that villains often come in many forms.
Nick Schager of the Daily Beast calls the series “your next obsessive binge-watch,” and says showrunner Liz Sarnoff, Nicole Kidman and the stellar supporting cast have assembled all of the necessary pieces for a long-running franchise. Schager says:
Scarpetta is a propulsive genre affair that piles on the surprises, almost to the point of overload. There’s so much going on in both eras that things occasionally grow a bit messy. Kidman makes for an ideal Scarpetta, her steely resolve and imposing intellect matched by her take-no-crap demeanor, and Sarnoff positions her as a distinctly feminist champion, standing up for the rights of women (in every respect) in a world that’s awash in male chauvinism.
Daniel Fienberg of THR is struck by the “audacious willingness” of the showrunner to take such liberties from the source material, thus risking backlash from Patricia Cornwell devotees who have waited so long for this adaptation. The critic wonders if such choices might turn fans away from additional seasons, writing:
The Scarpetta directors provide the requisite gore one would expect from a character who investigates killers and performs a lot of autopsies, but it’s rarely above television genre standard, and when the series reaches its climax and devolves into bland slasher tropes, it’s a real letdown. The cliffhanger that closes the season’s eighth and final episode was big enough to make me curious for a resolution. But will viewers scarred by the mixed level of source fidelity be as generous?
Matt Roush of TV Insider rates Scarpetta just 2 stars out of 5, saying the “queasy,” “grisly” procedural aspects too often take a backseat to the “overwrought domestic angst” of Kay’s home life. The critic writes:
As the genre demands, both timelines lead to Kay being in dangerous proximity to a killer. But by then, we’ve experienced too many red herrings the size of Moby Dick, making the denouements feel almost as random as they are bloody. … If Scarpetta returns for a second season, I hope it can benefit from this critical autopsy, with one key recommendation: Simplify.
Saloni Gajjar of AV Club gives it a D, saying Scarpetta marks a low point on Nicole Kidman’s journey of increasingly substandard dramas. The series is a “hot mess,” Gajjar writes, and feels more like “one of those fake shows used as punchlines in 30 Rock and Insecure.” Gajjar continues:
Scarpetta isn’t even dreadful in an entertaining way. It takes itself way too seriously to feel like a breezy page-turner come to life because the laughable packaging doesn’t match the desired intensity. The result is eight hour-long episodes that tell a dark, sordid tale in an unexciting way. It doesn’t help that the ensemble isn’t aligned with what they’re collectively supposed to be doing here.
Critics don’t collectively agree on this latest thriller series from Nicole Kidman, but some really dug it, so if you’re one of the fans who’s been waiting to see Patricia Cornwell’s series come to life on your television screen, your time has come. Scarpetta premieres Wednesday, March 11 on Amazon’s Prime Video.
