My Brilliant Career: Netflix announces adaptation of Miles Franklin's classic novel
The new show, which is now filming around South Australia, stars The Newsreader actor Philippa Northeast in the lead role as Sybylla, a headstrong young woman who finds herself torn between the safety of a traditional life and the liberation of being an unmarried writer.
Sybylla goes to stay at Caddagat, the homestead of her grandmother Mrs Bossier, who will be played in the Netflix adaptation by Anna Chancellor from the BBC's Pride and Prejudice and Four Weddings and a Funeral. At Caddagat, Sybylla befriends Harry, a young, wealthy neighbour who falls in love with her; Harry will be played in the new adaptation by Slow Horses actor Christopher Chung.
Andor actor Genevieve O'Reilly will play Sybylla's aunt Helen and Kate Mulvany plays Harry's aunt Gussie Beecham. What It Feels Like For a Girl actor Jake Dunn will play Frank Hawden, a jackaroo at Caddagat who makes constant advances on Sybylla.
The adaptation has been developed and co-written by Liz Doran, who worked on Josh Thomas' comedy Please Like Me and the surfing drama Barons.
'It's been a privilege to work with so many incredible creatives on this reimagining of Miles Franklin's rollicking tale of a young woman's quest to determine her own life,' Doran said on Wednesday.
Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin, for whom both the Miles Franklin and Stella literary awards are named, was only a teenager when she wrote My Brilliant Career. It was a bestseller, but Franklin was subject to 'unwelcome notoriety' due to speculation over her novel's autobiographical elements; she pulled the book from publication, stipulating it could only be reprinted after her death. Franklin died in 1954 and the novel has never been out of print since it was printed again in 1966, becoming a feminist classic.
The book was also adapted into a 1979 film starring Judy Davis and Sam Neill and directed by Gillian Armstrong, and into a hit stage musical at the Melbourne Theatre Company in 2024.
Minyoung Kim, Netflix's vice-president of Asia Pacific content, called My Brilliant Career 'a timeless Australian story with themes as relevant today as when it was originally published'.
'We're excited to be partnering with some of Australia's best creatives and talent to bring this story to a whole new generation on Netflix and, with its stunning locations, there's no better home for this production than South Australia,' Kim said.
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