Toni Collette to lead new Apple TV+ drama with "hilarious chaos" – here's what we know

Toni Collette is returning to the small screen for Apple TV+.

The Emmy Award winner will star in the new comedy-drama Lenni, based on the critically acclaimed Norwegian series Pernille.

Collette's Lenni is a divorced social worker fighting to keep her family together in the wake of tragedy.

Related: First look at Jamie Dornan and Zoë Kravitz filming new mystery Apple TV movie

As the logline reads, it's "a darkly comedic mystery about family – what it means to have one, to lose one, to pull one apart."

Lenni "spends her days fighting for other people’s families while her own is in a constant state of hilarious chaos.

"The season follows Lenni through a new case, where the stakes couldn’t be higher as her work and personal life collide."

Joining Collette in the cast are Ciarán Hinds, Dan Wyllie, Josh McKenzie, Celeste Barber, Genevieve Hegney, Arka Das and Wayne Blair.

The series is directed by Emmy and BAFTA Award winner Dearbhla Walsh, previously behind Bad Sisters and Margo’s Got Money Troubles, and adapted by The Letdown's Sarah Scheller.

It also has the blessing of the creator and star of the original Norwegian series, Henriette Steenstrup, who serves as executive producer.

Related: People comparing The Power to The Handmaid's Tale are missing the point

While known for her big screen roles in Muriel's Wedding, The Sixth Sense, and Hereditary, Collette has built up an impressive recent run on television.

The actor starred as a mother with a mysterious past in the 2022 Netflix thriller series Pieces of Her, alongside roles in Netflix's Wayward, Prime Video's The Power, and HBO Max's true-crime series The Staircase.

Earlier this year, she teamed up with Kit Harington for Audible Original's production of the Agatha Christie classic The Murder at the Vicarage.

The audiobook cast also included Normal People's Eliot Salt, Top Boy's Jasmine Jobson and Outnumbered's Hugh Dennis.

The Murder at the Vicarage was the first Christie novel to feature the amateur detective Miss Marple.

She's roped in to investigate the murder of a colonel, found dead in the vicarage study in the rural village of St Mary Mead.

No one's surprised the victim was targeted – he had plenty of enemies – but the circumstances of his death are so shocking that they rattle the small, idyllic community.

All five seasons of Pernille are currently available to watch on Netflix.

The series, which won four Gullruten awards – the Norwegian equivalent to the Emmys – was praised by critics for its messy, but honest depiction of middle-aged womanhood.

Its English-language adaptation, Lenni, has started production in Collette's native Australia.

Visit our Streaming Guide now to see at a glance where you can view ALL your favourite shows and movies.

The new edition of Legends, a 100-page celebration of the world of K-pop, is here. Buy K-Pop in newsagents or online.