Award-winning ABC series Mystery Road: Origin begins filming in Pemberton

A critically acclaimed, multi-award-winning TV series has begun filming in Pemberton. Karri trees and timber towns will be the backdrop for Mystery Road: Origin season two which will see AACTA Award-winning lead actor and Nyikina man Mark Coles Smith return as young Det. Jay Swan. Multiple locations across the region will make up the set, including Deanmill and the Deanmill Workers Club, Big Brook Dam, Yeagarup, Pemberton District High School, Pemberton Caravan Park and Pemberton Pool. Bunya Productions producer Greer Simpkin said the team was delighted to be on their next Mystery Road journey, where Det. Swan heads to partner Mary’s hometown in the tall trees of the southern forests. “We are excited to bring to our audiences an entirely new Mystery Road world, a visual feast set in the trees, dams and waterways of the South West of Western Australia to our audiences,” she said. “There is murder, abduction and epic love, but it is the past, the ghosts of the Stolen Generation who haunt our story.” The six-part drama — written entirely by a First Nations writing team — is the fourth Mystery Road series to be filmed in Western Australia, following seasons filmed in Kununurra and Wyndham, Broome, Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie. Returning to their iconic roles from series one alongside Coles are Tuuli Narkle as Mary and Clarence Ryan as Sputty. Simpkin — who filmed thriller and mystery movie Jasper Jones in 2017 out of Pemberton — said the team knew Pemberton was going to be a wonderful place to film. “We have good memories from our time in Pemberton filming Jasper Jones,” she said. “Western Australia is always a wonderful place to film with incredible locations, crews and actors and we have been warmly welcomed in Pemberton. “The cast and crew are enjoying the region outside of filming as there is so much to see and do.” Season two is set six months from when audiences last saw Det. Swan and Mary, now attempting to forge a new life together on Mary’s mother’s country, in the town of Loch Iris. An unfolding case has Loch Iris closing ranks around the leading man and the more he pieces together the crime, the more he realises the entire town has been hiding a shadowy past. Simpkin said the storyline lent itself to the cinematic nature of the region, in particular the karri trees. “Our previous locations have been in the desert . . . we wanted to give our audience something new,” she said. Mystery Road: Origin season two will air on ABC TV and ABC iview in 2025.