EXCLUSIVE: Netflix has landed Australian supernatural drama series Playing Gracie Darling.
The streamer’s agreement with distributor Sony Pictures Television (SPT) covers the U.S., Latin America, numerous territories in EMEA such as Spain and the Nordics, and across Asia, including India, South East Asia, Japan and Korea.
The show is currently playing on Paramount+ in the UK, Canada and Australia, where it was originally commissioned and will soon launch on other Paramount-owned services. It was introduced to international buyers as part of SPT’s LA Screenings slate in May.
We hear Netflix plans to launch it later this year.
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Coming from SPT’s Australia producer Curio Pictures, the mystery drama follows the story of 14-year-old Joni Gray, whose best friend, Gracie Darling, disappeared during a séance. Twenty-seven years later, in a small town where the local kids get their kicks with a game of ‘Playing Gracie Darling,’ another girl disappears. Joni, now a child psychologist, returns to the town to confront her deep fear of the unknown and find out what really happened to Gracie that fateful night.
Morgana O’Reilly (The White Lotus, Friends Like Her) stars as Joni, with Harriet Walter (Succession, Ted Lasso) and Rudi Dharmalingam (Wakefield, The Lazarus Project) also starring, alongside the likes of Celia Pacquola (Love Me, Rosehaven), Annie Maynard (Colin From Accounts, Upper Middle Bogan), Dan Spielman (The Code, New Gold Mountain) and Anne Tenney (The Castle, A Country Practice).
Miranda Nation (Undertow) created and wrote the show, with Jonathan Brough (Rosehaven, The End) the director. Jo Porter and Rachel Gardner of Curio exec produce, alongside Nation. Laura Nagy is associate producer, with additional scripts written by Anya Beyersdorf (Fake). Production design is by Amy Baker (The New Boy, Plum) and the DoP is Martin McGrath (Muriel’s Wedding, Wakefield).
Like most Australian series, local funding helped get the show into production, with major investment from Screen Australia in association with Paramount Australia. It was also financed with support from the NSW Government and Screen NSW’s Made in NSW Fund, and post, digital and visual effects were supported by Screen NSW.
“We couldn’t be prouder to see Playing Gracie Darling so warmly embraced by Netflix resulting in the series reaching viewers around the world,” said Curio’s Porter and Gardner in a statement. “It speaks to the universality of the propulsive story and the richness of the characters led by the incredible Morgana O’Reilly with Dame Harriet Walter and Rudi Dharmalingam.”