If you’re after a feel-good show that promises comedy, charm, and a bit of crime, Stan’s Good Cop/Bad Cop is the answer.
The show’s leading brother and sister duo Leighton Meester (Gossip Girl) and Australian actor Luke Cook (The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) sat down with New Idea to tell us all about filming the show in Australia, what it’s about, and what you can expect.
Find out what they say below.
What is Good Cop/Bad Cop about?
The show follows the brother-sister-duo Lou Hickman (Leighton), and Henry Hickman (Luke) and their complicated sibling dynamics and relationship.
Set in the fictional town of Eden Vale in America’s Pacific Northwest, Lou is a detective in an under-resourced police station.
Determined to get crime under control and surrounded by rookies, she asks police chief Big Hank, who happens to be her father, for a new partner.
Much to her dismay, he enlists his estranged son Henry, who is desperate to be a detective, has no social skills and an unorthodox approach to his work.
When Luke auditioned for the role, he was not sure if he would get it, because Henry was nothing like him and was “quite an odd character who can be quite abrasive and disagreeable”.
Described as a “charm-edy” with a mix of comedy, charm, and drama, people will watch Lou and Henry clash, navigate through family life, their childhoods, the dynamics of a small town, and working together.
“You want to wrap up and sit down and watch this show and feel cosy and safe and like there’s nothing that’s gonna blindside you and shock you,” Luke says. “I think you can relax and enjoy this show and have a laugh.”
Both having siblings, it was an easy dynamic to translate onto the screen.
“I think this one, it’s loaded. And so, no matter what the actual relationship you’re depicting like when it’s loaded like that with so much history, it’s really fun to play with something so rich,” Leighton says.
“But just actually being able to have a laugh and get along is, God, what a blessing!”
Who is in the cast of Good Cop/Bad Cop?
Besides The Shawshank Redemption actor Clancy Brown playing Hank, and Leighton, there is only one other American actor who features on the show. He has a special connection to the Gossip Girl star.
The O.C. fans will spot a special cameo from Leighton’s husband Adam Brody, who Leighton describes as a “quirky, weird little character” in the series, who helps the brother and sister duo solve a murder.
“It was just as fun Down Under as everywhere else,” she says about working alongside him.
“We’ve been all around the globe working together.”
While the show revolves around an American town, every other actor is Australian.
Even Home and Away alumni Lincoln Lewis makes an appearance as Lou’s former and on-again-off-again flame Bobby Dougan! Boy Swallows Universe fans will also spot Logie winner Felix Cameron.
Where was Good Cop/Bad Cop filmed?
It may be hard to tell, but the Stan series was shot across Queensland in 2024. Specifically, scenes were captured at Village Roadshow Studios, Mount Tambourine, and the town of Cangura.
Besides creating sets, and filming in the studio, lots of the show was filmed on-location, and it was all about attention to detail.
Australian sports fields were transformed into high school football fields, layers of timber and stone were added to facades, and signs for traffic and watching out for koalas were taken down.
Roads were even closed so stars could drive on the right, which was something both leads needed to adjust to.
“It’s weird for the mind, and since I got really used to driving on the left side of the road, I still, even though it’s so natural to drive on the right side, I still go “Am I going the right way?”” Leighton confesses.
While it was set in the USA, she says she enjoyed picking up Aussie terms such as “chuck a youie”, embracing the laidback lifestyle and beaches.
She even enjoyed visiting theme parks on the Gold Coast and a rugby league match!
For Luke, he did not expect to film a show on the Gold Coast.
Having moved to Los Angeles from Sydney 18 years ago in search of more opportunities, he is optimistic about the local entertainment industry.
“…comedy is a huge part of our culture, so to see it finally being used and us getting to work on original comedic content is really fun, and I’m excited about what it may mean for actors not having to go to America anymore, necessarily that they can stay where they are, and have great careers,” he says.
When can you watch Good Cop/Bad Cop?
Good Cop/Bad Cop can be streaming on Stan in Australia.
