Finished 'Dept. Q'? Netflix's New Murder Mystery 'The Survivors' Should Be Your Next Watch
The Survivors, which launched on the platform on June 6, stars Charlie Vickers as Kieran Elliott and Bridgerton's newest darling Yerin Ha as Mia Chang, a young couple who are haunted by ghosts of their past when they return to their childhood hometown to be with Kieran's ailing father and emotionally distant mother, per Netflix.
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The limited six-episode series, which is based on the bestselling Jane Harper novel of the same name, boasts all of the elements of a winning murder mystery with a brooding, simmering tension throughout and a moody, murderous setting, not dissimilar from its Dept. Q predecessor. Needless to say, it's the murder mystery we all ought to be bookmarking and binging. This is everything you need to know about The Survivors.
Set in the fittingly sleepy seaside town Evelyn Bay in Tasmania, The Survivors tells the story of Kieran (Vickers) and Mia (Ha) as they return to their emotionally fraught hometown.
'Kieran Elliott's life changed forever when two people drowned and a young girl went missing in his hometown of Evelyn Bay,' per Netflix. 'Fifteen years later, returning with his young family, the guilt that still haunts him resurfaces. When the body of a young woman is found on the beach, the town is once again rocked by tragedy and the investigation of her death threatens to reveal long-held secrets, the truth about the missing girl, and a killer among them.'
'It's a family melodrama disguised as a murder mystery,' the series' showrunner Tony Ayres said of the series. 'Because the things that are really at its heart are things like a son wanting his mother's love and the mother who just cannot afford to give it because her whole world might fall apart.'
Alongside Elliott and Ha, The Survivors also stars Robyn Malcolm, Damien Garvey and Apple Cider Vinegar's Thom Green and Julian Weeks.
The full cast is below:
The series was filmed throughout the Australian state of Tasmania, and is set in the fictional town of Evelyn Bay, where the book takes place. However, as Ayres stressed in an interview with Netflix, 'Evelyn Bay doesn't actually exist. Jane [Harper] made it up out of a number of different places.'
The Survivors was filmed in an area of Tasmania called Eaglehawk Neck, which Ayres noted has 'such a gothic landscape. It's cliffs and sea caves and this pounding ocean. It really is so spectacular.'
Netflix has not yet greenlit another season, but given the precedent set by previous the streaming service with its other limited series that it's ended up commissioning second seasons of, including Nobody Wants This and Squid Game, there's still plenty of time for a second outing of The Survivors.
The Survivors is available to stream on Netflix now.
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Naomi May is a freelance writer and editor with an emphasis on popular culture, lifestyle and politics. After graduating with a First Class Honours from City University's prestigious Journalism course, Naomi joined the Evening Standard as its Fashion and Beauty Writer, working across both the newspaper and website. She is now the Acting News Editor at ELLE UK and has written features for the likes of The Guardian, Vogue, Vice and Refinery29, among many others.
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