Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman star in director Baz Luhrman’s epic cattle drive drama.
For those of you who loved Australia — and there obviously are quite a few of you out there, judging from the response we received when we included it in our list of great 21st-century Westerns — we have terrific news: You’ll soon have more to view on Hulu when the streaming platform offers Faraway Downs, an expanded version of Baz Luhrman’s epic cattle drive drama.
Set to premiere in November, the six-episode limited-run series has been described as a “variation” on the original 2008 film starring Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, Brandon Walters, and Bryan Brown, reportedly using footage Luhrman had to leave on the cutting room floor while preparing Australia for theatrical release.
The Hulu synopsis indicates that basic plot remains largely unchanged: “The story centers on an English aristocrat, Lady Sarah Ashley (Kidman), who travels halfway across the world to confront her wayward husband and sell an unusual asset: A million-acre cattle ranch in the Australian Outback called Faraway Downs. Following the death of her husband, a ruthless Australian cattle baron, King Carney (Brown), plots to take her land, and she reluctantly joins forces with a rough-hewn cattle drover (Hugh Jackman) to protect her ranch. The sweeping adventure romance is explored through the eyes of young Nullah (Walters), a bi-racial Indigenous Australian child caught up in the government’s draconian racial policy now referred to as the ‘Stolen Generations.’ Together the trio experiences four life-altering years, a love affair between Lady Ashley and The Drover, and the unavoidable impact of World War II on Northern Australia.”
Call it Lonesome Dove meets Gone with the Wind, and you won’t be far off the mark. For the Faraway Downs limited-run series, however, Luhrman has been able to emphasize other elements of his narrative.
“I originally set out to take the notion of the sweeping, Gone With the Wind-style epic and turn it on its head,” Luhrman said in a statement, “[as] a way of using romance and epic drama to shine a light on the roles of First Nations people and the painful scar in Australia history of the ‘Stolen Generations.’
“While Australia the film has its own life,” Luhrman added, “there was another telling of this story, one with different layers, nuances and even alternative plot twists that an episodic format has allowed us to explore. Drawn from the same material, Faraway Downs is a new variation on Australia for audiences to discover.”