The Narrow Road to the Deep North is an Australian drama miniseries based on the novel of the same name by Richard Flanagan. It was written by Shaun Grant and directed by Justin Kurzel. The series stars Jacob Elordi as Dorrigo Evans, with a supporting ensemble cast including Ciarán Hinds, Olivia DeJonge, Heather Mitchell, Odessa Young, Show Kasamatsu, Simon Baker, Essie Davis, and Dan Wyllie.
The series follows Evans across three periods, from before his deployment to the Second World War, to during his time as a Far East prisoner of war, and continuing into several decades following the war. The series was released on Amazon Prime Video on 18 April 2025 and received critical acclaim and accolades including nine wins at the 15th AACTA Awards and six nominations at the Logie Awards of 2026 (including acting nominations for Baker, Elordi, Mitchell, Thomas Weatherall, and Young), with Baker winning. For his performance, Elordi also earned nominations for the Golden Globe Award and Satellite Award, winning the latter.
Cast and characters Main Jacob Elordi as Dorrigo Evans Ciarán Hinds as Older Dorrigo Evans Olivia DeJonge as Ella Heather Mitchell as Older Ella Odessa Young as Amy Mulvaney Show Kasamatsu as Major Nakamura Simon Baker as Keith Mulvaney Essie Davis as Lynette Maison Dan Wyllie as Rick Maison
Supporting Thomas Weatherall as Frank 'Darky' Gardiner William Lodder as Guy 'Rabbit' Hendricks Fabian McCallum as 'Sheephead' Morton David Howell as 'Tiny' Middleton Sam Parsonson as 'Rooster' MacNeice Taki Abe as Colonel Kota Charles An as The Goanna Akira Fujii as Kenji Mogami Masa Yamaguchi as Lieutenant Fukuhara Rupert Bevan as The Poet Ewen Leslie as Edward Lansbury George Simitzis as Australian POW Jack McGreal as Australian POW
Episodes
Production Development In March 2018, Fremantle acquired rights to Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan, to adapt into a television series. In November 2019, it was announced Justin Kurzel would direct the series, with Shaun Grant serving as writer. Fremantle later exited the project with Curio Pictures serving as producer instead.
Casting In November 2022, Jacob Elordi joined the cast, followed by Odessa Young, Ciarán Hinds, Olivia DeJonge, Heather Mitchell, Thomas Weatherall, Show Kasamatsu, Charles An, and Simon Baker in November 2023.
Filming Principal photography began in November 2023, and filming continued through to March 2024.
Release Amazon Prime Video distributed the series in Australia, United States, Canada, and New Zealand, with Sony Pictures Television set to distribute elsewhere internationally. On 17 January 2025, it was announced that after the first presentation at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival, the series would be released on 18 April 2025 to coincide with Easter holidays on Amazon Prime Video. The series was acquired by the BBC for broadcast on BBC One & the BBC iPlayer in United Kingdom. In Germany, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland, the series will be available in Sky, whereas HBO Max will stream the series exclusively in Central and Eastern Europe. In Latin America, the series will be available in NBCUniversal's Universal+. Other deals include RTÉ (Ireland), Movistar Plus+ (Spain), Nova (Greece), AXN (Portugal) and LG Uplus (South Korea).
Reception Critical response The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 100% approval rating with an average rating of 8.3/10, based on 37 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "A difficult watch made riveting by director Justin Kurzel and star Jacob Elordi's sterling work, The Narrow Road to the Deep North chronicles the inhumanity of war with fierce intelligence." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 83 out of 100 based on 8 critics, indicating "universal acclaim " reviews.
In a review for The Guardian, Luke Buckmaster awarded the show 4 out of 5 stars, noting the strength of the performances and the complexity of the relationships depicted. He also complimented the direction, writing: "You never doubt the show’s realism, or the compassion underpinning it". Hugh Montgomery of the BBC praised the acting of Elordi and Young and described them as possessing "smouldering chemistry".
Accolades Accolades Award Year Category Recipient(s) and nominee(s) Result AACTA Awards 2026 Best Miniseries Justin Kurzel, Jo Porter, Shaun Grant, Alexandra Taussig, Rachel Gardner Best Lead Actor in a Television Drama Jacob Elordi Best Supporting Actress in a Television Drama Heather Mitchell Best Casting in Television Nikki Barrett, Kelly Graham Best Direction in Drama or Comedy Justin Kurzel (for episode 1) Best Cinematography in Television Sam Chiplin (for episode 1) Best Costume Design in Television Alice Babidge (for episode 1) Best Editing in Television Alexandre de Franceschi Best Production Design in Television Bev Dunn, Alice Babidge, Paul Sarpi Best Original Score in Television Jed Kurzel Best Sound in Television Mick Boraso, Nick Emond, Andy Wright, Glenn Newham Best Hair and Makeup Rachel Scane, Laurence Van Duynhoven, Angela Conte, Rachel Murphy American Society of Cinematographers 2026 Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Limited or Anthology Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television Sam Chiplin Australian Screen Sound Guild2026 Best Production Sound Wade Keighran (additional production mixer), Nick Emond (production mixer), Aron Dyer (boom operator), Pedrag Malesev (additional production mixer), Gerry Nucifora (boom operator) Best Sound Mixing Andy Wright (re-recording mixer), Alexander Roberts (re-recording mix tech) Best Sound for a Television Series Dylan Burgess (foley artist), Beth Bezzina (ADR editor)Alexander Roberts (re-recording mix tech), Andy Wright (supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer), Aron Dyer (boom operator), Pedrag Malesev (additional production mixer), Will Carroll (ADR editor), Nick Emond (production mixer), Gerry Nucifora (boom operator), Owen Grieve (ADR recordist), Glenn Newnham (dialogue editor), Megan Howieson (assistant sound editor), Tara Webb (FX editor), Wade Keighran (additional production mixer), Mick Boraso (sound designer), Steve Burgess (foley recordist & editor) Australian Writers' Guild 2026 Television – Limited Series Shaun Grant scope="row" Equity Ensemble Awards 2026 Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Miniseries or Telemovie Reagan Mannix, Essie Davis, David Howell, William Lodder, Heather Mitchell, Dan Wyllie, Sam Parsonson, Thomas Weatherall, Eduard Geyl, Christian Byers, Shô Kasamatsu, Olivia DeJonge, Odessa Young, Simon Baker, Caelan McCarthy, Fabian McCallum, Ciarán Hinds, Jacob Elordi Golden Globes 2026 Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film Jacob Elordi Golden Trailer Awards 2025 Best Original Score – TV/Streaming Series The Narrow Road to the Deep North Guild of Music Supervisors Awards 2026 Best Music Supervision for a Trailer (Series) Travis Barker, Kelsey Mitchell Logie Awards 2026 Best Lead Actor in a Drama Jacob Elordi Best Lead Actress in a Drama Odessa Young Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Simon Baker Thomas Weatherall Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Heather Mitchell Best Miniseries or Telemovie The Narrow Road to the Deep North Golden Tomato Awards 2025 Best Anthology or Limited Series The Narrow Road to the Deep North Best Drama Series Satellite Awards 2026 Best Miniseries and Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television The Narrow Road to the Deep North Best Actor in a Miniseries, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television Jacob Elordi Septimius Awards 2025 Best Oceanian Actor Jacob Elordi Shanghai International TV Festival 2026 Best Foreign TV Film/Miniseries The Narrow Road to the Deep North
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