Australian talent will be front and centre in Matchbox Pictures/NBCUniversal International Studios’ drama Irreverent when it starts production in Queensland tomorrow.
Kylie Bracknell, Calen Tassone, Briallen Clarke, Tegan Stimson, Ed Oxenbould, Wayne Blair, Russell Dykstra, and Jason Wilder will be series regulars on the Netflix and Peacock co-commission, with Susie Porter, Bridie McKim, Martin Sacks, and Ursula Yovich also set to appear.
Created by Paddy Macrae, Irreverent follows criminal mediator Paulo Keegan (Colin Donnell) as he flees the United States after a mediation gone wrong and assumes the identity of Reverend Mackenzie “Mack” Boyd in Clump, a small, Australian beach town hundreds of miles away from civilization and phone reception.
While there, he encounters Piper (Bracknell), a gifted cop who has returned to her hometown after a successful start to her career in the city, and begins to suspect he isn’t who he says he is. Clarke plays Piper’s childhood friend and local engineer, Amy, while Wilder plays the policewoman’s boyfriend Aidan and Tassone her brother, Harry.
Stimson and Oxenbould take on the roles of teenage best friends Daisy and Cameron, the former of which becomes a key confidant of Mack and an unlikely partner in crime.
Dykstra will feature as Lester, proprietor of the local bar and soulmate of Amy’s father Victor, and Blair as Peter, a local dentist who is devoutly religious and has been campaigning for a new Reverend for years.
The 10-part series was written by Macrae alongside Andrew Anastasios, Angela McDonald, Darlene Johnson, and Andrew Knight, who also executive produces with Debbie Lee.
Jonathan Teplitzky and Lucy Gaffy will direct, with Tom Hoffie to produce.
Irreverent was announced last year as part of a trio of Universal Studio Group projects lured to be filmed in Queensland with the support of the Federal Government’s Location Incentive Program and the state’s production attraction strategy – the others being Young Rock and Joe Exotic.
The series will screen exclusively on Netflix in Australia and New Zealand, and on Peacock in the United States.