When Was ‘Faraway Downs’ on Hulu Filmed?

Baz Luhrmann is gracing the small screen with his new series Faraway Downs, which is an expansion of his late-aughts drama Australia.

The series contains never-before-seen footage with Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, and Brandon Walters, as well as an alternate ending.

Faraway Downs premiered November 26, 2023 on Hulu and has been met with mixed reception, particularly from those who don’t understand the concept and feel as though the series is simply a rerelease of the movie, despite its new scenes and revamped score.

Decider wrote in their review that the show “transforms the lukewarm drama into the grand epic that Luhrmann originally set out to make.”

The story takes place in 1939 and follows English aristocrat Lady Sarah Ashley (Kidman) as she sells her million-acre ranch in Australia.

Now that Luhrmann’s work has captured a few fresh eyes, many are wondering about the production process. When was Faraway Downs filmed? What about Australia? Continue reading for everything you need to know.

When Was Faraway Downs on Hulu Filmed?

As stated above, Faraway Downs is an expansion of Luhrmann’s 2008 movie Australia. Therefore, the series was filmed years ago. Australia began filming in April 2007 in Sydney, Australia before moving roughly 1191 miles north to Bowen, Australia.

According to IMDb, the movie was filmed in four different parts of Australia: Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia, and New South Wales.

Principal filming wrapped in December 2007; however, the cast and crew returned to film additional footage in August 2008.

The production process was tough, as Kidman — who was pregnant at the time — told Vogue in 2008, “I was sitting on a horse once and I remember thinking, ‘Gosh, this is what it feels like before you faint,’ and then I fainted.”

Luhrmann faced additional challenges while filming, which he described as “fraught” in a recent interview with Variety, including the set horses contracting a rare equine flu and the filming locations seeing unprecedented amount of rainfall.

“I don’t know why I’m addicted to making things that seem impossible to make,” Luhrmann said in the interview. “But of all my films, I have never faced the level of relentless obstacles I did on this one. I often tell people that if you are having trouble with vegetation and need things to grow, just have me come make a movie there. You’re guaranteed rain.”

For Faraway Downs, while the footage had already been captured, post-production occurred in Queensland at The Post Lounge and Resin studios, both in Brisbane in 2022.

Faraway Downs is currently streaming on Hulu.