Look, I love a bit of chill, no-stress viewing as much as the next person, but every once in a while I love nothing more than getting lost in something more intense and thought-provoking. Enter Stan’s latest Original Series The Commons.
Set in the not-too-distant future, the epic new thriller series paints a scarily realistic picture of what could go down after the next wave of climate change hits.
As we’ve seen, in the last few months especially, any form of environmental crisis brings out the best or worst in people and this concept is very much explored in The Commons.
Perhaps the most intriguing slash disturbing aspect of the show is the fact that unlike sci-fi disaster flicks that are set hundreds and thousands of years away and therefore difficult to relate to, The Commons shows a foreseeable future.
At the heart of this character-driven tale is Eadie (played by three-time Emmy Award-nominee and Golden Globe winner Joanne Froggatt), a radical and gifted neuropsychologist.
Eadie and her husband Lloyd (David Lyons) have been struggling with infertility issues for quite some time and their last ray of hope is a radical IVF technique that poses a poignant ethical question.
I was lucky enough to stop by the set of The Commons in Sydney, NSW to get a deeper understanding of the incredible story being told.
Lyons (Safe Haven) explained that the show is “presenting humanity in a particular context and asking people to go on a journey.”
“I think we’ll start to see more of these stories come to the fore because this is our reality. It’s not futuristic in the sense of sci-fi, there’s been a word banging around here called ‘cli-fi’ (climate change fiction), it’s not terribly fictional.”
Joining Froggatt and Lyons is Ryan Corr who recently starred in the Logie Award-winning Stan Original Series Bloom.
The much-loved Aussie actor plays the complex character Shay, best friend and colleague of Lloyd.
Corr describes Lloyd as a scientist “with an edge” and “a darkness inside that stems from a shitty childhood.”
The actor explained that viewers will be both hooked and shocked by the series because of the realistic nature of the story being told.
“Some of what we’re talking about has happened so that makes it a lot more current and present,” he said.
“We’ve seen sci-fis that show where we may be in 100, 200, 500 years. This is just close enough so that there’s a familiarity to it. It’s five, 10 years into the future, what the climate may look like then.”
Corr adds, “We’re having a little glimpse into the future but it’s just close enough that it could almost be today and that really creates a platform that could get conversations started and talk about where we’re at right now.”
Shelley Birse (creator/executive producer/producer/writer) divulged that while conducting environmental research for the series, a recurring question was “‘Why isn’t this story getting traction?’”
The esteemed Aussie writer boasts writing credits on over 70 episodes of television and her work has been acknowledged by AWGIE, AACTA, SPA, FIPA and NSW Literary Awards.
“Now is the hour for that voice to be heard,” she insists.
Lyons put it best when he said, “The amount of research that has gone into the script is insane. You can feel it bleeding off the page.”
The series also stars AACTA Award-winner Damon Herriman (Perpetual Grace, LTD.), Rupert Penry-Jones, TV Week Logie Award-winner John Waters and AACTA Award-nominee Fayssal Bazzi.
During my conversations with Birse and the actors, it became very clear that the purpose of the show is to be thought-provoking, rather than preachy.
Birse described the rigorous editing process where they’d actually scrap lines if they thought they’d crossed that line.
“Sometimes we’d write a line and we’d go ‘nup, sorry, over the line. It’s gotta go!’ There’s been a big editing process in scripts because no one likes to be preached to.”
Lyons added, “It’s a really topical show, one that doesn’t try to preach but shows people what we’re going to be dealing with in 15 years time.”
Whether you’re fully invested in the climate debate or not, The Commons is solid entertainment for anyone and it just arrived on Stan which is perfect timing for your Christmas hangover.
“These characters are just like us and they’re making great efforts to change the environment around them for the better,” Lyons said.
“And if anyone can take that message away with them [from the show], then that’d be a huge blessing.”
Every ep of the brand new Stan Original Series The Commons is now streaming, only on Stan – Australia’s unrivalled home of original productions.
