Nantucket is about to get another turn in the national spotlight. Peacock’s upcoming drama series, Five-Star Weekend, is set on the island, and the show is based on Elin Hilderbrand’s page-turner about a food influencer dealing with the sudden death of her husband.
Jennifer Garner headlines the series, giving the island’s postcard setting a familiar face as the adaptation moves toward release. For Hilderbrand, whose novels have long used Nantucket as both backdrop and character, the timing matters. She has written 27 Nantucket-centered books and sold more than 20 million copies, turning the island into a literary destination for readers who want to see the places they have already imagined.
Nantucket itself makes an easy setting for that kind of story. The island sits 30 miles out to sea, has 50 miles of undeveloped, pristine beaches open to the public except for one very short stretch, and is a designated National Historic Landmark. The first house on Nantucket dates back to 1695, a detail that helps explain why the island still feels distinct even as it remains one of Massachusetts’ most popular summer destinations.
Hilderbrand has said the place “defines American summertime,” and she has also pointed to what makes it so recognizable: there are “nearly no chain stores, no neon signs and no stoplights on the island.” That sense of separation is part of the appeal, but it is also part of the strain. She said it is “a double-edged sword,” because some people on Nantucket are wary of the island being overrun.
That concern is not abstract. Nantucket’s population swells to 80,000 in the summer, and the island’s tourist economy already depends on limited ferries and flights. Fans of Hilderbrand often make their way to spots she has featured in her books, including Murray’s Toggery Shop, Gypsy, Nantucket Looms and Mitchell’s Book Corner, adding another layer of foot traffic to a place that can already feel crowded during peak season.
Hilderbrand said her readers tend to show up in the shoulder seasons, including May and October, and she hopes the series encourages more of that pattern rather than pushing even more visitors into the height of summer. That is the real test for Five-Star Weekend: whether it sends people to Nantucket when the island can absorb them, or whether it only makes the busiest stretch busier.
