Nicole Kidman has been cast in the long-awaited second season of BBC Two and SundanceTV‘s Top of the Lake TV show. She joins Elizabeth Moss, Gwendoline Christie, David Dencik, Alice Englert, Jonathan Strange, and Ewen Leslie.
Season two, Top of the Lake: China Girl, is a crime mystery beginning four years after the season one finale. The BBC says, “When the unidentified body of an Asian girl washes up on to Sydney’s Bondi Beach the case seems hopeless – until detective Robin Griffin (Moss) discovers that China Girl didn’t die alone.”
Per Deadline the BBC confirmed the casting, which had been rumored for a while, this morning.
The Daily Telegraph reports, “Foxtel boss Brian Walsh said it had taken a year to secure Kidman. She signed the contract on Thursday and flew straight here to begin rehearsals yesterday morning.”
The series is created by writers Jane Campion and Gerald Lee. Campion, who directed Kidman in the 1996 feature film, The Portrait of a Lady, is directing the drama series with new co-director Ariel Kleiman.
Top of the Lake season two consists of six hour-long episodes. Filming began on March 21, 2016 on location in Sydney, Australia. It will premiere on BBC Two in the UK in 2017. SundanceTV will have the exclusive U.S. premiere of all episodes of the second season on its network in 2017.
Hulu and Sundance will have VOD day after air, and Hulu will have the exclusive subscription streaming rights to the entire series in the U.S. BBC First will broadcast in Australia on pay TV platform Foxtel. BBC UKTV will screen the series in New Zealand. Arte will air the series in France.
What do you think? Did you watch the first season of the Top of the Lake TV series? Do you plan to check out the second season premiere?