Mystery Road (TV series)
Mystery Road is an Australian television neo-Western-crime mystery series whose first series screened on ABC TV from 3 June 2018. The series is a spin-off from Ivan Sen's feature films "Mystery Road" and "Goldstone", taking place in-between the two. Indigenous Australian detective Jay Swan, played by Aaron Pedersen is the main character and actor in both the films and in the two TV series, each of six episodes. Series 1 was directed by Rachel Perkins. Swan is brought in to solve a murder, with the local police officer played by Judy  Davis. In Series 2, directed by Warwick Thornton and Wayne Blair, which began airing on ABC on 19 April 2020, Swan is brought in to solve a murder in a different location, with the "local copper" this time played by Jada Alberts. Both series were shot in northern Western Australia. Series 3, to be directed by Dylan River, will be a prequel set in 1999 titled Mystery Road: Origin. Mark Coles Smith will play a younger version of Swan. Plot. Series 1. Taking place between the events of the films "Mystery Road" and "Goldstone", "Mystery Road" Series 1 tells the  story of Detective Jay Swan (Aaron Pedersen), assigned to investigate the mysterious disappearance of two young farmhands on an outback cattle station, one a local Indigenous football hero and the other a white backpacker. Working together with local police sergeant Emma James (Judy Davis), the investigation uncovers drug trafficking in the town, and a past injustice that threatens the fabric of the whole community. Series 2. Swan has to unravel the mystery of a decapitated body which turns up in the mangroves. The plot involves drug trafficking and an archaeological dig. Episodes. Series 2 (2020). Series 2 began screening on  ABC in April 2020. It had its world premiere at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival in late February, in the new Series section devoted to longform television series, along with another ABC series, "Stateless". Filming. Series 1. The first series was made on location in and around Wyndham, a town in northern Western Australia. Other scenes were shot at Kununurra and on Aboriginal lands belonging to the Miriuwung, Gajerrong and Balanggarra in the Kimberley. Location shooting took approximately 10 weeks. Series 2. The second series was filmed in Broome, and in the Kimberley in northern Western Australia, taking 10  weeks. It was Thornton's first time directing for television, and he said that Blair's experience in this medium was vital. He also said that Sen and Perkins had done the hard work creating "this unique world", which gave the directors of Series 2 a strong foundation, so they could focus on the performances. Critical Reception. Series 2. "The Guardian" reviewer Luke Buckmaster praised the "extraordinary breadth" of the show, in the way it portrays the country "only just beginning to come to terms with its past". He praises Pedersen’s performance, which "simultaneously [projects] great strength and great  sorrow", as a man "caught between traditions, between worldviews, between "laws" and "lores"".