Elin Hilderbrand is a name to know this summer. Hilderbrand is the bestselling author of 30 Nantucket-set beach read novels, including The Five-Star Weekend, which is receiving a starry Peacock adaptation set to premiere on July 9, 2026.
Jennifer Garner stars as Hollis Shaw, an internet-famous cook and grieving widow, who invites four girlfriends from different stages of her life for a “five-star weekend” at her Nantucket summer home. Naturally, drama ensues as old secrets and feuds bubble to the surface, along with potential romance, as Hollis reconnects with her high school sweetheart Jack, played by king of televison Timothy Olyphant (who will also star in Apple TV’s Lucky later this summer).
In addition to Garner and Olyphant, The Five-Star Weekend boasts a stellar cast that includes Chloë Sevigny, Regina Hall, Gemma Chan, D’Arcy Carden, and even a reunion with Garner’s 13 Going on 30 co-star, Judy Greer. Peacock recently dropped The Five-Star Weekend‘s first trailer, and if it’s anything to go by, audiences will want to mark their calendars for this starry new show.
However, The Five-Star Weekend isn’t the first of its kind. Two years prior, Netflix released another Hilderbrand beach read adaptation with one of the best ensembles in television history: The Perfect Couple. Whereas The Five-Star Weekend is being marketed as an earnest drama, The Perfect Couple is a soapy murder mystery involving a wealthy Nantucket family.
The Perfect Couple‘s cast is led by TV icon Nicole Kidman, who plays steely matriarch Greer Winbury, a successful author who disapproves of her son’s fiancée and doesn’t want him to marry her — despite the Winburys hosting the ill-fated engagement party and the wedding. Though The Perfect Couple unfairly received mixed reviews, it’s self-aware, campy fun that rewards rewatches — especially considering 2026’s beachy TV lineup.
The Perfect Couple Has Started A Trend Of Frothy, Beachy Summer Shows
Nicole Kidman’s 2024 Netflix series may not have been critically acclaimed, but The Perfect Couple sure enjoyed high viewership numbers, remaining on the streaming platform’s top 10 most-watched English-language series chart for six weeks (via Variety). Though The Five-Star Weekend will be on Peacock, the success of Netflix’s Elin Hilderbrand adaptation very likely helped the new show get made.
Should The Five-Star Weekend follow The Perfect Couple‘s success, this will undoubtedly lead to more Hildebrand adaptations. Given how prolific the author is, that could mean many, many beachy shows, which will make The Perfect Couple even more iconic as the first of the bunch.
It’s impossible to emphasize how delightful a TV-watching experience The Perfect Couple is, and it also says a lot that it’s such a rewatchable murder mystery series. Even after learning the identity of the killer in The Perfect Couple, it’s fun to go back and look for all the clues. No disrespect to the late Merritt Monaco — may she rest in peace — but, murder aside, watching The Perfect Couple feels like being at a glamorous beach party from the comfort of your own living room.
There’s every chance that The Five-Star Weekend will be a dud with the critics, not because of poor quality but because sincere female-focused beach dramas don’t get the respect they deserve, often being labelled as “fluff” at best and “trash” at worst. However, as proven by The Perfect Couple, those critics are just missing out on a good time. I say enjoy both shows this summer — there’s likely a lot more where they came from.
