The official trailer has arrived for The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Prime Video’s highly anticipated Australian original series. Based on Richard Flanagan’s Booker Prize-winning novel, the five-part drama that finds Aussie actor Jacob Elordi in a role far removed from his recent turns in Saltburn and Priscilla. Trailer above and information below.
A Story of War, Love, and Survival
Spanning several decades, The Narrow Road to the Deep North follows Lieutenant-Colonel Dorrigo Evans, an Australian surgeon whose life is shaped by the horrors he endured as a prisoner of war during the construction of the Thailand-Burma railway. Jacob Elordi portrays Dorrigo as a young man, while Ciarán Hinds (Belfast) takes on the role in the character’s later years.
The series explores Dorrigo’s brutal captivity in a POW camp, his passionate and ultimately tragic love affair with Amy Mulvaney (played by Odessa Young), and his conflicted later years as a revered yet reluctant war hero.
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The ensemble cast also includes Olivia DeJonge (Elvis), Show Kasamatsu (Tokyo Vice), Thomas Weatherall (Heartbreak High), Simon Baker (Breath), and Heather Mitchell (Love Me).
The Creative Team Behind The Narrow Road to the Deep North
The series is directed by acclaimed Australian filmmaker Justin Kurzel, known for Snowtown, Macbeth (2015), Nitram, and The Order, and written by Shaun Grant, who previously collaborated with Kurzel on Snowtown and Nitram.
Both men serve as executive producers alongside author Richard Flanagan and Curio Pictures’ Jo Porter and Rachel Gardner. Alexandra Taussig produces the series, with international distribution handled by Sony Pictures Television.
Jacob Elordi on the Physical and Emotional Demands
Speaking at the Berlinale Film Festival last month, where The Narrow Road to the Deep North had its world premiere, Elordi reflected on the physical challenges he and his co-stars faced. The actors underwent significant weight loss to authentically depict the malnourished prisoners of war.
“It was a very calming experience to do it with all the lads,” Elordi told media. “I think there was something quite profound that happened in that it wasn’t a complete torture. There was a peace that sort of came over all of us when we were in the camps, and you reach a level of love that goes beyond what you’re used to in your everyday because everything gets stripped away, and you come down to the bare bones of, ‘Is my mate okay? Am I okay? How can I help? Do you want a jelly bean?’”
A Deeply Personal Project for Kurzel and Grant
For director Justin Kurzel and screenwriter Shaun Grant, The Narrow Road to the Deep North carries deep personal resonance. Both men have family histories tied to the events depicted in Flanagan’s story.
“I grew up with these two very important men in my life that lived with the fog of war and in the midst of it, and I could feel the sort of shadow of that past, very deeply,” Kurzel shared at the festival.
Grant’s grandfather was a POW who worked on the Thailand-Burma railway. “I saw the effects that it had on him and I remember the first time I read Richard’s book, I walked away knowing my grandfather better than I did prior to that,” Grant said.
Release Date and Streaming Details
The Narrow Road to the Deep North is produced by Curio Pictures and received principal production funding from Screen Australia, with additional support from the NSW Government through Screen NSW’s Made in NSW and PDV Funds.
All five episodes of The Narrow Road to the Deep North will premiere on Prime Video in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada on April 18th. The BBC has acquired the series for release in the United Kingdom, although no UK release date has been announced at the time of writing. Still no word on a US release date.
