Nicole Kidman is Kay Scarpetta in a first look at Scarpetta, Prime Video‘s adaptation of Patricia Cornwell‘s popular series of crime novels. Scarpetta has headlined 29 novels to date, but this is her first time being adapted for the screen. The series will premiere on Prime Video on March 11, 2026.
The new images give a first look at Kidman as Scarpetta, a renowned medical examiner and forensics expert, as well as her supporting cast. That includes Jamie Lee Curtis (Freakier Friday) as Dorothy, Kay’s older sister; Bobby Cannavale (Nine Perfect Strangers) as ex-detective Pete Marino; and Ariana DeBose (West Side Story) as Kay’s niece, Lucy. These images also reveal that the show will feature extensive flashbacks to the characters’ pasts, as we see Rosy McEwen (Rabbit Trap) as a young Scarpetta alongside Jake Cannavale (The Offer) playing a younger version of his father’s character. The series also features Simon Baker (The Mentalist), Sosie Bacon (Smile), Stephanie Faracy (Nobody Wants This), and Janet Montgomery (1923).
Who Is Kay Scarpetta?
Created by Cornwell in the 1990 novel Postmortem, Kay Scarpetta is the chief medical examiner for the state of Virginia; Cornwell based her on Marcella Farinelli Fierro, who held that position from 1994 to 2008. The series follows her shifting career and personal life as she uses her brilliance and dedication to solve whatever gruesome crimes arrive on her desk. Cornwell‘s Scarpetta novels have sold over 120 million copies worldwide. As the TV series opens, Scarpetta is returning to her hometown for the first time in years, as the grisly murder that made her career 28 years earlier has resurfaced. She’s got to deal with that as well as her fraught relationship with her flighty older sister (Curtis), reconnecting with her tech-savvy niece (DeBose), and navigating a potential love triangle with FBI profiler Benton Wesley (Baker) and ex-cop Pete Marino (Cannavale).
Scarpetta is written and showrun by Liz Sarnoff (Lost, Barry). It is produced by Kidman and Per Saari via Blossom Films, Curtis via Comet Pictures, and Sarnoff via Sarnoff TV, Cornwell via P & S Projects, plus Jason Blum, Jeremy Gold, Chris Dickie, and Chris McCumber via Blumhouse Television. David Gordon Green, who directed Curtis in three Halloween films, directed five episodes; he also executive produces alongside Amy Sayres. The series is a production of Amazon MGM Studios and Blumhouse Television.
Scarpetta will premiere on Prime Video on March 11, 2026.
via Collider