Neighbours planning a continuation and the start of something new…

Amazon has made comment about its recent Neighbours revival, telling Variety it hopes to maintain the same quality and production values and create a world that offers something new for a global audience.

Lauren Anderson, head of AVOD original content and programming for Amazon Studios said, “We are continuing the show to at least the same level of what audiences have loved for 37 years. The most important thing to us is to make sure that those who love the show already continue to love the show.”

Shahina O’Mahoney, head of licensed content for Amazon Freevee U.K.  says while the platform has some experience launching a daily show on the service thanks to Judy Justice there are “two realities” at play in putting Neighbours on Freevee in some tettiroties.

“[It was about] understanding that a show like this is obviously huge in the U.K. and Australia but we know there’s an opportunity elsewhere, so how do we bring the whole of Amazon together to make this work for customers globally?” she says. “That was the beauty of having a service that’s both in front of and behind the paywall: we could offer it both to Freevee customers who may have a Prime Video subscription but may not, and also offer the show to customers in territories where Freevee hasn’t launched yet.”

The new season is currently in pre-production, with more concrete story details set to be worked out by the end of Q1 next year, promises Anderson.

“What we’re moving through is what do we want the arc of the first season to be? How do we create a world that’s at once a continuation and also the start of something new?” says the executive. “Because that’s essentially it: the storyline in a lot of ways is going to mirror what’s happening with the series. It’s a continuation, but it’s in a new place.”