‘Cleverman’ Has Just Been Renewed For A Second Season Before The Premiere Of Its First Episode

In a show of almost unprecedented buzz for an Australian series, Cleverman has just been renewed for a second season before the premiere of its first episode on ABC tonight. The first season was co-produced by ABC and Sundance, and has already been sold to BBC Three in the UK. It’s also garnered considerable international attention after being selected to screen at the 2016 Berlinale Film Festival in Germany and 2016 Series Mania TV Festival in France.

In case you haven’t read us froth about it already, Cleverman is a six-part series set in a dystopian Australia in which people are segregated from “Hairys” — a group classified as “subhumans” and played exclusively by Indigenous people. In our recent interview with Deborah Mailman, who also stars in the series, she said that the drama takes “a bit of a risk”. It’s exciting to think that before the show has even premiered on our screens, this risk is actually paying off.

“What other show in Australia is like this?” Mailman said. “That’s what I’m excited by, because it’s raising the bar in terms of the quality of drama that we can make, instead of middle-of-the-road [shows]. And to have that endorsement from Sundance TV, from an international audience, is really something. I think we need that as an Australian drama; it can be international but it needs that Australian voice. I think what’s happening in the Indigenous industry is some of the most exciting work coming out at the moment.”

Production on a second series will start later this year. The first episode of season one premieres on ABC and ABC iview tonight at 9.30pm. Get into it.