In 2016's Lion, Kidman portrayed Sue, the adoptive mother of Saroo Brierley, an Indian boy who was separated from his birth family, a role she felt connected to as she herself is the mother of adopted children.
She earned favorable reviews for her performance, as well as nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, her fourth nomination overall, and her eleventh Golden Globe Award nomination, among others.
Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times thought that "Kidman gives a powerful and moving performance as Saroo's adoptive mother, who loves her son with every molecule of her being, but comes to understand his quest.
It's as good as anything she's done in the last decade."
Budgeted at US$12 million, Lion earned over US$140 million globally.
She also gave a voice-over performance for the English version of the animated film The Guardian Brothers.

In 2017, Kidman returned to television for Big Little Lies, a drama series based on Liane Moriarty's novel, which premiered on HBO.
She also served as producer alongside her co-star, Reese Witherspoon, and the show's director, Jean-Marc Vallée.
She played Celeste Wright, a former lawyer and housewife, who is concealing her abusive relationship with her husband, played by Alexander Skarsgård.
Matthew Jacobs of The Huffington Post considered that she "delivered a career-defining performance", while Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post wrote that "Kidman belongs in the pantheon of great actresses".
She won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for her performance, as well as winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series as a producer.
She also won a Critics' Choice Television Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award.

Kidman next played Martha Farnsworth, the headmistress of an all-girls school during the American Civil War, in Sofia Coppola's drama The Beguiled, a remake of a 1971 film of the same name, which premiered at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, competing for the Palme d'Or.
Both films were adaptations of a novel by Thomas P. Cullinan, The film was an arthouse success, and Katie Walsh of Tribune News Service found Kidman to be "particularly, unsurprisingly excellent in her performance as the steely Miss Martha.
She is controlled and in control, unflappable.
Her genteel manners and femininity co-exist easily with her toughness."
Kidman had two other films premiere at the festival, the science-fiction romantic comedy How to Talk to Girls at Parties, reuniting her with director John Cameron Mitchell, and the psychological thriller The Killing of a Sacred Deer, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, which also competed for the Palme d'Or.
Also in 2017, Kidman played supporting roles in the television series Top of the Lake: China Girl and in the comedy-drama The Upside, a remake of the 2011 French comedy The Intouchables, starring Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart.

Kidman starred in two 2018 dramas —Destroyer and Boy Erased.
In the former, she played a detective troubled by a case for two decades.
Peter Debruge of Variety and Brooke Marine of W both found her "unrecognizable" in the role and Debruge added that "she disappears into an entirely new skin, rearranging her insides to fit the character’s tough hide", whereas Marine highlighted Kidman's method acting.
The latter film is based on Garrard Conley's Boy Erased: A Memoir, and features Russell Crowe and Kidman as socially conservative parents who send their son (played by Lucas Hedges) to a gay conversion program.
Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair credited all three performers for "elevating the fairly standard-issue material to poignant highs".
Also that year, Kidman played Queen Atlanna, the mother of the title character, in the DC Extended Universe superhero film Aquaman.

Forbes ranked her as the fourth highest-paid actress in the world in 2019, with an annual income of $34 million.
She took on the supporting part of a rich socialite in John Crowley's drama The Goldfinch, an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Donna Tartt, starring Anse
In 2016's Lion, Kidman portrayed Sue, the adoptive mother of Saroo Brierley, an Indian boy who was separated from his birth family, a role she felt connected to as she herself is the mother of adopted children. She earned favorable reviews for her performance, as well as nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, her fourth nomination overall, and her eleventh Golden Globe Award nomination, among others. Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times thought that "Kidman gives a powerful and moving performance as Saroo's adoptive mother, who loves her son with every molecule of her being, but comes to understand his quest. It's as good as anything she's done in the last decade." Budgeted at US$12 million, Lion earned over US$140 million globally. She also gave a voice-over performance for the English version of the animated film The Guardian Brothers.
In 2017, Kidman returned to television for Big Little Lies, a drama series based on Liane Moriarty's novel, which premiered on HBO. She also served as producer alongside her co-star, Reese Witherspoon, and the show's director, Jean-Marc Vallée. She played Celeste Wright, a former lawyer and housewife, who is concealing her abusive relationship with her husband, played by Alexander Skarsgård. Matthew Jacobs of The Huffington Post considered that she "delivered a career-defining performance", while Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post wrote that "Kidman belongs in the pantheon of great actresses". She won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for her performance, as well as winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series as a producer. She also won a Critics' Choice Television Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award.
Kidman next played Martha Farnsworth, the headmistress of an all-girls school during the American Civil War, in Sofia Coppola's drama The Beguiled, a remake of a 1971 film of the same name, which premiered at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, competing for the Palme d'Or. Both films were adaptations of a novel by Thomas P. Cullinan, The film was an arthouse success, and Katie Walsh of Tribune News Service found Kidman to be "particularly, unsurprisingly excellent in her performance as the steely Miss Martha. She is controlled and in control, unflappable. Her genteel manners and femininity co-exist easily with her toughness." Kidman had two other films premiere at the festival, the science-fiction romantic comedy How to Talk to Girls at Parties, reuniting her with director John Cameron Mitchell, and the psychological thriller The Killing of a Sacred Deer, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, which also competed for the Palme d'Or. Also in 2017, Kidman played supporting roles in the television series Top of the Lake: China Girl and in the comedy-drama The Upside, a remake of the 2011 French comedy The Intouchables, starring Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart.
Kidman starred in two 2018 dramas —Destroyer and Boy Erased. In the former, she played a detective troubled by a case for two decades. Peter Debruge of Variety and Brooke Marine of W both found her "unrecognizable" in the role and Debruge added that "she disappears into an entirely new skin, rearranging her insides to fit the character’s tough hide", whereas Marine highlighted Kidman's method acting. The latter film is based on Garrard Conley's Boy Erased: A Memoir, and features Russell Crowe and Kidman as socially conservative parents who send their son (played by Lucas Hedges) to a gay conversion program. Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair credited all three performers for "elevating the fairly standard-issue material to poignant highs". Also that year, Kidman played Queen Atlanna, the mother of the title character, in the DC Extended Universe superhero film Aquaman.
Forbes ranked her as the fourth highest-paid actress in the world in 2019, with an annual income of $34 million. She took on the supporting part of a rich socialite in John Crowley's drama The Goldfinch, an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Donna Tartt, starring Anse
Nicole Kidman