Look, if you reckon Deadloch was good when it was set in that moody, freezing Tasmanian town, you've got to see what creators Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan are doing with season two. The second season launches on Prime Video on March 20, 2026, and it's a completely different beast.
The detectives aren't heading south this time. Detectives Dulcie Collins (Kate Box) and Eddie Redcliffe (Madeleine Sami) are in Australia's sweltering Top End, investigating the death of Eddie's former policing partner, Bushy. But things get complicated quickly. When the body of a local icon is discovered in a remote town, they are flung into a sweatier, stickier, croc-ier crime case.
The shift in location is more than just a change of scenery. The town of Barra Creek is closer to South Asia than to Australia's capital city, marking a vast departure from Season One's icy Tasmanian setting. The show's calling this the "Tropical Gothic" era, and mate, that's exactly what it is. You've traded moody greys for red dirt roads, tropical canopies, and those prehistoric crocs lurking in every waterway.
Here's where it gets interesting though. McCartney and McLennan aren't just swapping locations for comic effect. The Northern Territory brings with it real social complexity. The Northern Territory's complex history with law enforcement and racial tensions simmers in the background, with macho local detectives in aviators and tight chinos recalling real-life cop text chains exposed in inquiries. That's genuine material to work with, and the Kates are leaning into it.
Indigenous ranger Miki, played by Shari Sebbens and an old schoolmate of Eddie, highlights the stakes for First Nations characters, with the line: "If a blackfella was bumping off every land-stealing whitefella, 80% of this town would be dead". That's the kind of dark humour the show does best, where the comedy actually cuts at something real.
The core cast returns. Kate Box, Madeleine Sami, Nina Oyama and Alicia Gardiner are back, and the cast has grown to include 17 new members. Luke Hemsworth joins as croc-wrangling Territory icon, Jason Wade, and you'd have to reckon that's perfect casting.
The first season was already impressive. It reached the Top 10 TV Shows in more than 165 countries and territories on Prime Video including the U.S., UK, and Canada. The series won five AACTA Awards including Best Acting in a Comedy for Kate Box and Best Screenplay in Television for Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan and was nominated for an International Emmy Award. That's a lot to live up to, but the Kates have a track record of getting sharper, not safer, when they step up.
At the end of the day, this is Australian television doing what it does best: taking something familiar (the crime procedural, the buddy cop dynamic) and giving it a genuinely original twist. McCartney and McLennan have earned the right to swing for the fences, and moving to the Northern Territory lets them tackle something darker and more complex than a Tasmanian coastal mystery. The fact they're bringing race and politics into a show that's fundamentally about laughs tells you they're not playing it safe. The 6-part crime comedy will be available on Prime Video globally in more than 240 countries and territories.