Acting legend, Temuera Morrison (Star Wars, The Book of Boba Fett, Once Were Warriors) and international multi-award winning actress, Robyn Malcolm (Top of the Lake, The Outpost, Outrageous Fortune) have been announced to star in the major new drama series FAR NORTH.  The pair will lead an outstanding and diverse cast of actors including Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi (The Panthers), Xana Tang (Mulan, Sweet Tooth), Fei Li (Island of Yesterday, Eternal Romance), Gabriel Chao Ren (Power Rangers, Cowboys Bebop), Maaka Pohatu (Savage, Wellington Paranormal) and Fay Tofilau (26:29 Supernatural Anthology Series) in the 6×1 hour drama.

Filming is set to begin in early June in Ahipara, in the far north of New Zealand on the South Pacific Pictures and White Balance six-part premium drama series for Sundance Now (USA), Paramount + (Australia), Discovery (NZ) and All3Media International. The series is funded by Te Puna Kairangi, alongside Sundance Now, Paramount +, Discovery NZ and All3Media International.

FAR NORTH is the extraordinary true story of how an everyday couple from the Ahipara community foiled an international crime ring’s largest ever deal in the Pacific. Morrison and Malcolm will play Far North-based couple Ed and Heather, who unwittingly become involved in one of the largest international drug deliveries to ever hit the shores of New Zealand.

The series is working shoulder to shoulder with Te Rarawa, Ngāi Takoto & Te Aupōuri Iwi and the wider far north community of Aotearoa. The production will bring pūtea (capital), mahi (work), and training opportunities to the area. Already, extensive work has gone into creating a training and intern program, where 10 budding film and television production ākonga (school students) will be given opportunities to learn the dynamics of television-making alongside world-class professional crew. The series will film for 14 weeks in total, with seven weeks spent on location in the far north. The production’s total spend in the far north area will be significant, representing a substantial investment in an area which has been hard hit by COVID-19. 

CEO of South Pacific Pictures and Executive Producer of FAR NORTH, Kelly Martin said, “This project has been six years in the making and we are beyond thrilled to now be in the production phase. Far North is an epic story based on real life events and audiences are going to be taken on an incredible journey when they watch the series. We are so proud of the extremely talented cast we have assembled and combined with the creative team, as well as the picturesque locations of the far north, it enables us to deliver something that will be very special for our broadcasting partners Sundance Now, Paramount + and Discovery NZ.”

“This project has been six years in the making and we are beyond thrilled to now be in the production phase. Far North is an epic story based on real-life events and audiences are going to be taken on an incredible journey when they watch the series,” said Martin, CEO of South Pacific Pictures.

“Far North is an exact delivery on Sundance Now’s promise of providing our audiences with high-quality, thought-provoking, incredibly well-acted and captivating programming. This story only gets more interesting with each new piece of discovery,” said Shannon Cooper, VP of programming at Sundance Now.

Sally Habbershaw – All3Media EVP Americas called Far North an “important co-production between the USA and New Zealand.” “South Pacific Pictures’ thoughtful telling of a genuinely extraordinary true story that saw international crime land on the quiet shores of a small community. The production’s investment into the local region and talent is a testament to the care taken by the production team into this emotional drama.”

 The show is executive produced by Kelly Martin for South Pacific Pictures and David White for White Balance Pictures. Chris Bailey and Nicole Horan, produce and line produce respectively. The series is researched, created written and directed by David White (This Town, Meat). Suli Moa (Shortland Street, The Panthers) and Mingjian Cui (Inked, Meme) are also key writers for the series.

David White is represented by Stacey Testro at Stacey Testro International and John Campisi at CAA.