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Elisabeth Moss returning for Top of the Lake

Mad Men star will return for Jane Campion's moody drama to be set in Sydney.

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Elisabeth Moss is returning for the second season of Top of the Lake.

The Mad Men star will return for Jane Campion’s moody drama to be set, as previously reported, in Sydney.

See-Saw’s Emile Sherman tells IF, “We are thrilled to be working with Jane again. She is at the top of her game. She and Gerard (Lee) have created this world from the ground up.”

The series won critical acclaim for BBC, nominated for Emmys, BAFTAs, AACTAs and Logie Awards, but an Australian broadcast deal is yet to be finalised.

Pre-production on the 6 part series is due to start in December.

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  2. I thought Elizabeth Moss gave a fine performance and did well with the accent. Unfortunately she was burdened with an incoherent and clumsy script. I don’t understand why you would make a sequel to this. This project really has nothing to do creatively with an Australian broadcaster. It was commissioned by BBC2 in the UK and after the ABC pulled out (because of Moss’ casting) BBC’s local pay channel was leant on by London head office to pick up the tab and fulfilled its Australian drama spend with this production. Sadly very few of the BBC’s PAYTV local drama projects in fact emanate from here. Banished is another example.

    1. I agree TOTL script was overwrought and undercooked. The Holly Hunter character was very odd. There is not a natural sequel – just move the “name” talent to Sydney and hope for the best. This is what happens when feature fllm people bring their pretensions to high-end drama. And we are starting to see it more and more. Television, at it’s best is well written first. Soaring pictures of beautiful landscapes as mesmerising or metaphoric as they may be are not enough. It’s all about the story. TOTL was a nasty incest tale with a dash of police corruption. Not much new in that. BBC First is not commissioning anything local – just using their compulsory spend as directed by HQ in London.

  3. Elizabeth Moss is an excellent actress however I am disappointed the producers felt the need (in the first place) to cast an American in our locally produced and heavily subsidised drama, and so many talented actresses who could do an equally great job. It’s one thing to bring Australian actors with a UK or US profile “home” for a role, but quite another to do this. I am concerned about the feature-film obsession with parachuting in “stars”. Television drama is exciting when it finds and creates “stars” from previously unknown actors – just like Mad Men did when they cast Elizabeth Moss as Peggy Olsen. Matt Weiner had to insist on casting Americans in Mad Men. This is debate worth having.

    1. Agree.
      Even though Elizabeth was great in TOTL, of course it would have been preferable and more appropriate to cast a local actress in her role.

      1. Given she is American I thought her accent was passable under the circumstances. I was expecting a lot worse. Given she will now presumably be alongside an Aussie cast that problem is about to become a lot more exacerbated.

        1. Good point. Meryl Streep did an amazing Australian accent and Kate Winslet sounds like she’s nailed it too in The Dressmaker, but if you notice what a great accent it is, it is pulling you out of the drama, and that’s a problem.

      1. Considering she was playing a New Zealander who had been living in Australia, an atrocious accent is a given – you should hear mine! 😉 😀

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