Sundance Polishing Up 'Scrublands: Silver' for May Premiere
Bella Heathcote as Mandy Bond and Luke Arnold as Martin Scarsden in 'Scrublands: Silver'
STAN
No one can deny that one of the significant appeals of historical series is the sweeping vistas and landscapes, not to mention the ancient architecture and buildings. This is also true of contemporary series; for instance, Death in Paradise is all about getting to stare at the Caribbean in the middle of February. More recently, there has been a general push for series and movies to film outside the usual locations and bring productions to picturesque towns with struggling economies, not just in the U.S. or the U.K., but also in New Zealand and Australia. The latter did just that for Scrublands Season 2, called Scrublands: Silver.
The Scrublands series has thus far been based on Australian author Chris Hammer's best-selling series, with Season 1 following the opening book, and Season 2 taking its cues from the follow-up novel, Silver. The first season was set in the Outback and featured long shots of the vast sky and endless desert. However, the second book follows the protagonist, journalist Martin Scarsden, back home to a tiny port city on the country's western coastline, an area that rarely appears in regular Australian TV series, let alone those distributed internationally.
Australian star Luke Arnold (Black Sails) returns as Scarsden, with co-star Bella Heathcote (The Man in the High Castle) as Mandy Bond, with whom he got together at the end of Season 1. The two may think they're getting away from murder and mayhem, but wherever you go, there you are, so of course, there's a body before they're even finished settling in.
Here's the season synopsis from AMC:
Based on Silver, the bestselling sequel to Scrublands by Chris Hammer, the new four-episode season picks up after a year has passed since the life-changing events of season one. Award-winning investigative journalist Martin Scarsden returns to his coastal hometown, Port Silver, WA, to start a new chapter with his partner, Mandy Bond. But his plans begin to unravel when he discovers his childhood friend, Jasper, brutally murdered—and Mandy accused as the prime suspect. As Martin struggles with doubts about Mandy and his own instincts, he embarks on a relentless search for the truth, uncovering buried secrets about Port Silver and his own past.
Though this is not technically an anthology, only Arnold and Heathcote return for Season 2 to reprise their roles of Martin and Mandy. The new ensemble for "Silver" includes Luke Carroll (The Artful Dodger), Debra Lawrance (Darby & Joan), David Roberts (Queen of Oz), Caroline Brazier (Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries), Joel Jackson (Ms Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries), Sarah Roberts (Return to Paradise), Radek Jonak (Black Snow), Damian De Montemas (Jack Irish), Tasma Walton (Deadloch), Luke Pegler (Home & Away), Toby Truslove (La Brea), and Hamish Michael (Frayed).
Felicity Packard, Fiona Kelly, and Jock Serong are the Season 2 writing team, with director Ben Young helming the series. Packard executive produces alongside Martha Coleman, Ian Collie, and Rob Gibson, plus Michael Healy and Andy Ryan from the 9 Network and Cailah Scobie and Alicia Brown for Stan.
Scrublands: Silver will premiere in the U.S. on Sundance Now and AMC+ on Thursday, May 29, 2025, and stream one new episode a week through mid-June.
