Deadloch Is Ushering In A New Era Of Representation: “It’s Very Intentional”

Deadloch is one of Australia's biggest exports, with Season 1 of the Prime Video series reaching the streamer's Top 10 TV Shows list in over 165 countries and territories. It's no surprise that Season 2 is bolder, funnier and pushes the needle in ways that both disgust and delight. The two leading ladies, Kate Box (Dulcie Collins) and Madeleine Sami (Eddie Redcliffe) can't speak highly enough about creators Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan for writing complex female characters whilst also championing representation in a nuanced way.

"The Kates specifically and the work they do... it's very intentional who they choose to champion and give voices to," Sami tells Refinery29 Australia. "They're kind of leading the way for me in terms of representation." With Box's character a happily married lesbian and Sami's character a foul-mouthed, loud Brown woman, one could expect layers of "trauma-porn" or tragic stories to befall them. Instead, viewers are served sharp one-liners, fleshed out backstories and the focus isn't on diverse character traits being ticked off on a survey.

"I think the nature of the way the Kates write as well, [they are] subverting all these tropes all the time. You know, Eddie [is] the sort of Brown woman who's also an embodiment of a misogynistic kind of, you know, the world that she's kind of grown up in and around," Sami says. "I will say, I feel like it is really fun to kind of represent queerness on screen with complexity, without the trauma porn of it, without someone having to die, and like being constantly being surprised by the way the Kates kind of eke out these characters. It's fun." Sami's character has had to evolve and change her thinking while growing her relationship with both Box's and her wife's characters, which the actor describes as a "journey".

Meanwhile, Box's character may be a lesbian, but that doesn't define her. "I think the characters [just] wear who they are with kind of deep pride, and they come up against kind of shit stuff in the community that talks back to that, I think," the actor says. "Ultimately, the Kates write such complex and well-grounded characters that you can't kind of identify them by one part of who they are."

Another part of what has made Deadloch resonate with audiences globally is how much thought McCartney and McLennan have put into world-building. Viewers can feel like they've arrived in Tasmania in Season 1, or are solving a case in the Top End in Season 2. "We want to see somebody that has been... buffeted around by their environment as well. And I mean, the beautiful thing about this season is you come into Eddie's world, and so you see the place kind of reflected in [her] in such a genuine way," Box says. "The relationships [that] the Kates have written... it goes deeper, and gets darker in a lot of ways, but also you kind of keep coming back for the absurd relationships between people."

Sami agrees, saying the creators have a knack for translating Australia onto the small screen. "Cultural specificity [is so important]," she says. "I think the Kates are just so good at putting Australian culture on screen... I think that really connects to people [and] it cuts through."