Actress Cate Blanchett is set to star in a six-party immigration drama Stateless about life for four people in an immigration detention center, Deadline reported on Tuesday.
The series, which was co-created by Blanchett alongside Tony Ayres and Elise McCredie, follows the lives of four people detained within an immigration center in the Australian desert.
“Whilst this story centers on Australia, the dilemmas that it explores through four absorbing characters will resonate globally: the desire for personal freedom, the need for social stability, an escalating lack of faith in the political process and the deeply unsettling impact this has on individual lives,” said Blanchett, who in 2016 was named a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
The show, produced by the NBCUniversal-backed Matchbox Pictures, was reportedly inspired by the true story of Cornelia Rau, a German-Australian woman who in 2004 escaped the Kenja Communication cult before unlawfully ending up in the country’s Baxter immigration detention center.
“We have assembled the most extraordinary array of Australian talent to make this show, both in front of and behind the camera,” added Ayres. “In each case, people were drawn to Stateless because it asks one of the most vexing questions of our times — how do we as a nation maintain control of our sovereign borders whilst retaining our own humanity?”
Members of the cast include Yvonne Strahovski, Rachel House, Kate Box, Clarence Ryan, Claude Jabbour, Rose Riley, and Helana Sawires. Filming for the series will begin in South Australia in June while it is expected to air on ABC in 2020.
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