EXCLUSIVE: Mia Wasikowska, Xavier Samuel and Heather Mitchell will lead an Australian cold case drama for streamer Stan.
The Killings: Parrish Station comes from Australian producer Helium Pictures with the support of Screen Australia and Screen NSW. ITV Studios is attached as international distributor and an associate financing partner. Production is underway New South Wales and we have a first-look image for you above.
The drama is a “cosmic mystery intertwines with horror as a gruesome massacre at a remote research station plunges a detective into an inexplicable, decades-long mystery.”
Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland) stars Detective Georgia Cooke, who in 1987 is called in to investigate the massacre of four scientists who have been brutally murdered in inexplicable ways, with a lone survivor the obvious suspect. Digging deeper, Georgia unravels a complex case entangled in mania, ritual and the occult, and her obsessive quest for the truth spirals into a nightmare that will put her family, career and sanity on the line. When a chilling new spree of murders happens 37 years later, an older Georgia (Heather Mitchell) is pulled back into the nightmare as she confronts the terrifying possibility that the horrors at Parrish Station were never fully buried.
Cast alongside Wasikowska and Mitchell (The Narrow Road to the Deep North) are Xavier Samuel (Blonde), Robert Taylor (Longmire), Alan Dale (Star Trek: Nemesis),Emma Lung (Wolf Like Me), Doris Younane (Last King of the Cross), Kat Hoyos (Amazing Grace), Nic English (Ten Pound Poms), Alex Malone (The Royal Hotel), Geoff Morrell (Thou Shalt Not Steal), Rob Carlton (Black Snow), Alex Lee (Optics), Cameron James (The Role of a Lifetime) and newcomer Grace Owens.
Wasikowska is represented by RGM Artists, Mitchell and Samuels by Shanahan Management and Taylor by Marquee Management. Hoyos is repped by Meissner Management, Younane and Lung by Sue Barnett & Associates, English by RGM Artists and Dale by Lisa Mann Creative Management. Owens is represented by T and E Management, Malone by Nathan/Culliver Management, Morell by LIberty Artist Management and Carlton as Linsten Management.
Ben Jenkins, known as writer and presenter of the ABC comedy podcast The Checkout, is changing career gears as writer and creator, with Tim Pye (Bali 2002) acting as writer and story producer and Yolanda Ramke (Cargo) and Catherine Smyth-McMullen (The Sandman) the other writers. Daniel Nettheim (The Tourist) is directing.
Mark Fennessy is exec producer for Helium, which made the likes of Last King of the Cross, with Donna Chang and Andy Ryan is the EPs for streamer Stan. Kerrie Mainwaring is the producer.
The order is one of the most significant for Michael Healy, who took over as Nine Entertainment’s Executive Director, Entertainment Content Commissioning, in June. That gave him commissioning control over commercial network Nine, SVOD service Stan and on-demand platform 9Now.
“The Killings: Parrish Station is a striking addition to the Stan Originals slate, a bold and distinctive series that pushes the boundaries of Australian drama,” he said. “It is a testament to creative storytelling at its best, led by the visionary creator Ben Jenkins, who has masterfully woven together a cosmic-horror-meets-cold-case tale.
“The series captures the very essence of creative edge and originality that defines Stan’s commitment to groundbreaking content and marks our first collaboration with Helium, whose creative vision has been invaluable in bringing this project to life.”
Helium’s Fennessy said the show was a “haunting and deeply human story — a gripping, time-spanning thriller with compelling female leads told across two timelines with the scale and suspense of True Detective and the bite of Yellowjackets. Set against the vast emptiness of the Outback, it’s a tale about what we bury, what we choose to forget, and what refuses to stay hidden.”
ITV Studios is adding the show to its suite of Australian dramas, with Julie Meldal-Johnsen, EVP of Global Content at ITV’s production and sales arm, saying: “The scripts are some of the finest we have read – smart, shocking, and suspenseful with raw human emotion – and now brought to life by an acclaimed cast and crew.”
“Known for his comedy podcasting, creator Ben Jenkins demonstrates his versatility as a storyteller with his first foray into television drama,” said Screen Australia Director of Narrative Content Louise Gough. “Together with the experienced team at Helium Pictures, they’ve crafted a clever supernatural mystery that is genuinely propulsive and inherently bingeable.
Head of Screen NSW Kyas Hepworth said the series is expected to create 180 jobs in NSW.
The post Mia Wasikowska, Heather Mitchell & Xavier Simon Leading Stan & ITV Studios Drama ‘The Killings: Parrish Station’ appeared first on Deadline.
