Prime Video has announced The Office Australia, adding an Aussie version to the hit “The Office” comedy franchise and featuring the franchise’s first female-led series.
The popularity of the hit “The Office” comedy series franchise has expanded to another territory, this time Down Under with The Office Australia from Prime Video, BBC Studios Australia and New Zealand, and Bunya Entertainment. For the first time in the history of the franchise, The Office Australia will feature a female actor in the iconic lead role, with Felicity Ward (Wakefield, The Inbetweeners 2) playing Hannah Howard.
In The Office Australia, Hannah Howard is the managing director of packaging company Flinley Craddick. When she gets news from the Head Office that they will be shutting down her branch and making everyone work from home, she goes into survival mode, making promises she can’t keep in order to keep her “work family” together. The staff of Flinley Craddick indulge her and must endure Hannah’s outlandish plots as they work toward the impossible targets that have been set for them.
Playing Hannah’s work family are Edith Poor (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, The Power of the Dog), Steen Raskopoulos (The Duchess, Feel Good), Shari Sebbens (The Sapphires, Thor: Love and Thunder), Josh Thomson (How to Please a Woman, Young Rock), Jonny Brugh (Thor: Love and Thunder, What We Do in the Shadows), Pallavi Sharda (The Twelve, Beecham House), Susan Ling Young (Reckoning, Hungry Ghosts), Raj Labade (Appetite), Lucy Schmit (Golden), and Firass Dirani (Underbelly, House Husbands).
It was more than twenty years ago that the world was introduced to the wonderfully bleak mockumentary world of The Office, created by Ricky Gervais (After Life) and Stephen Merchant (The Outlaws). While many aspects of the workplace have changed since then, especially post 2020, the physical office remains a timeless precinct for comedy, one that will never tire an audience as long as the characters are authentic, familiar, faced with relatable dilemmas, and entertaining and hilarious. This universal appeal has seen the BAFTA- and Golden Globe-winning cult comedy remade for audiences around the world, including the US, France, Canada, Chile, Israel, India, the Middle East, and Poland, where a third season has just been announced. This Australian version will be the 13th adaptation.
Said Ricky Gervais, co-creator, co-writer, and star of The Office:
“I’m very excited about Australia remaking my little show from the turn of the century. Office politics have changed a bit in 20 years, so can’t wait to see how they navigate a modern-day David Brent.”
Production on the eight-part Australian Amazon Original series will start in Sydney, Australia, in June, with filming to take place over eight weeks.
The Office Australia will launch globally (excluding the US) in 2024, exclusively on Prime Video.
Stay tuned for updates.
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