Euphoria star Jacob Elordi will return to Australia to lead the cast of The Narrow Road to the Deep North, director Justin Kurzel and writer Shaun Grant’s series adaptation of Richard Flanagan’s 2014 Man Booker Prize winning novel.
While the project was originally being developed by Fremantle, former director of scripted Jo Porter brought the project with her to Sony Pictures Television’s Curio Pictures (formerly Playmaker) when she left in late 2020.
Due to be a five-part series, Flanagan’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North opens in 1943 within a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp on the Thai-Burma railway.
Elordi will play the lead character of Dorrigo Evans, an Australian surgeon and reluctant leader of the camp, who is haunted by his love affair with his uncle’s young wife Amy two years earlier. Their romance sustains and haunts him through his darkest days.
Sony has described the project as “an intimate character study, a depiction of both sides of war, an investigation into a marriage and a portrait of an unforgettable love affair.”
Kurzel and Grant boarded the series in 2019, continuing their longstanding collaboration that includes Nitram, The True History of the Kelly Gang and Snowtown. Grant’s grandfather was a POW who worked on the Thai-Burma railway.
Porter, Curio Pictures managing director, will executive produce with Rachel Gardner, Curio’s creative director. Flanagan will also be an EP alongside Kurzel and Grant.
“It is thrilling to have Jacob Elordi join us on this project,” Porter said.
“The character of Dorrigo Evans requires a multi-layered actor who can bring strength, sensitivity and charisma to the role – qualities Jacob has in spades. Together with the creative powerhouses of Justin Kurzel and Shaun Grant, there couldn’t be a more exciting team to bring this important novel to life.”
Kurzel added that he and Grant were excited to collaborate with an actor like Elordi.
“The Narrow Road to the Deep North needs a powerful leading presence, and it feels like this young actor and this extraordinary book have met each other at the right time,” he said.
Elordi is best known for playing Nate Jacobs in HBO’s Euphoria as well as Noah Flynn in Netflix’s The Kissing Booth franchise. His Australian credits including Swinging Safari and The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee. The actor is represented by Nicky Gluyas Management out of Australia, Gersh, Viewpoint and Goodman Genow Schenkman.
There is no word yet on a broadcast or streaming partner.