Filming Begins on Australian Mystery Playing Gracie Darling

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Filming has begun in New South Wales for the six-hour mystery drama Playing Gracie Darling, produced by Curio Pictures for Paramount+ Australia.

The series follows a Joni, a child psychologist who is haunted by her past, as her best friend Gracie Darling disappeared during a séance when they were 14 and was never seen again. Twenty-seven years later, Joni receives a call from another childhood friend, informing her that another Darling girl has disappeared during a séance.

Morgana O’Reilly (The White Lotus season three, Friends Like Her) stars in the lead role as Joni and is joined by an ensemble cast featuring Dame Harriet Walter (Succession, Ted Lasso), Rudi Dharmalingam (Wakefield, The Lazarus Project), Celia Pacquola (Rosehaven, Love Me), Annie Maynard (Upper Middle Bogan, Colin From Accounts), Dan Spielman (The Code, New Gold Mountain), Anne Tenney (The Castle, A Country Practice) and Chloe Brink (Thou Shalt Not Steal, Raising Thunder).

Playing Gracie Darling is created and written by Miranda Nation (Undertow) and directed by Jonathan Brough (Rosehaven, The End).

The drama received major production investment from Screen Australia in association with Paramount Australia. It is financed with support from Screen NSW’s Made in NSW Fund. Sony Pictures Television is handling international sales, while Paramount Australia is in charge of local distribution.

Playing Gracie Darling is an ode to the power of friendship and society’s fear of the unknown,” creator and writer Nation explained.

Lead actor O’Reilly commented, “This is a cast of incredible actors. I’ve found myself in the middle of a scene hoping I’m living up to what they’re putting down. This show is gritty, real and perfectly spooky. I can’t wait to see it all come together.”

Playing Gracie Darling is a brilliantly constructed ‘keeps-you-guessing’ script, and the part of Pattie is quite unlike anything I have played before,” Walter added. “She is well-meaning, if a bit misguided, dabbling in the mystic world, which sometimes causes her to miss what’s under her nose. But I also like that she pursues her own earthly pleasures. That is rarely portrayed or even suggested in older female characters.”