NEED TO KNOW
- Australia’s new drama series stars Heather Mitchell, Doris Younane, Mia Wasikowska, Alan Dale and Robert Taylor
- Split into two timelines, Heather and Doris play the modern-day versions of the leads, with Mia and Kat starring as their younger 1987 counterparts
- Heather and Mia — close friends in real life — deliberately chose not to mimic each other’s performances across the timelines
- Doris did deep character work to portray her character’s trauma
- They’re already pushing for a second season, insisting there’s more story to tell
Australia’s latest cosmic horror drama has hit the small screen – although the show is anything but small.
Starring a stacked cast of some of the country’s most well-known and much-loved stars – including Heather Mitchell, Doris Younane, Mia Wasikowska, Alan Dale and Robert Taylor – The Killings at Parrish Station will have you gripped from the get-go.
The series takes us through two different timelines – the first in 1987, when a brutal massacre at a remote desert research station occurs.
Thirty-seven years later, thinking the case is behind them, Detective Georgie Cooke (Heather Mitchell) and her former protégé Millie Farah (Doris Younane) are pulled back into the nightmare after a string of identical murders occur.
With the case becoming more inexplicable and descending into the paranormal, Georgie must face the truth of what really happened that fatal day.
Sitting down with New Idea, Heather, 68, and Doris, 63, exclusively tell us they had “so much fun”.
“Doris and I were just reminiscing, saying what a fabulous shoot it was and how much we loved everyone,” Heather tells us.
Playing the same character in different timelines
In The Killings at Parrish Station, Heather and Doris play the modern-day versions of the characters – with the 1987 versions played by Mia Wasikowska as Georgie Cooke and Kat Hoyos as Millie Farah.
Heather says she and Mia – who are good friends in real life – “made a conscious decision not to mimic the other person” when it came to playing the role of Georgie.
“We couldn’t be those people… we were gonna ask the audience to have a big leap of faith and not try and have the same mannerisms,” Heather says, adding that “with anything where you’re playing, you’re asking an audience to believe. I hope that the audience buys that and goes, ‘yep, they’re telling me time’s passed’.”
“It’s not separate performances, but we were respecting each other’s space,” she adds.
“Heather and I both made slight physical adjustments,” Doris says, adding that “a lot happens in 37 years… a woman changes a great deal”.
As for Doris, she explains that, as there was such a large age gap, she made decisions about her character based on what Kat had decided to do, as she didn’t want to influence any decisions Kat made, as that was her role as an actor.
“I didn’t want to influence that. We just wanted to make sure we’re both on the same path, keeping each other informed of what we were going to do,” Doris says.
Doris reveals that she “felt responsible”, saying that it was “almost like my child… it was weird, but interesting.”
“A lot of trauma happened to younger Millie, and I needed to carry that trauma all the way through the series,” she adds.
She ensured that her acting choices were in line with any physical injuries that Millie had.
“For example, I looked at the depth of Millie’s neck scar, the cut. I made vocal decisions based on that. I did that research because I thought, ‘Jesus, that’s deeper than I thought it was going to be!’” Doris says.
Doris had also spoken to a number of surgeons as to how the extent of Millie’s injury would have impacted a victim’s voice – alongside also listening to people who have experienced significant throat injuries.
Looking back 37 years
As for what they’d tell themselves from 37 years ago? Heather says she would tell herself “you’ve got no idea what’s coming”.
“Just enjoy it all, the future’s fabulous, don’t waste a minute!” she says.
Doris reveals she would tell her younger self to “not be so scared”.
“Just dive in, rather than holding myself back. That took a long time; I wish I could go back and say, just do it, stop worrying about it, stop being so terrified of everything,” she confesses.
Will there be a The Killings at Parrish Station season 2?
Doris and Heather are determined to get a sequel out, saying there’s much more to be done.
“I think there’s a sequel there! I wanted more scenes; we didn’t get them,” Doris revealed.
“We tried!” Heather says with a laugh.
Stream The Killings At Parrish Station now on Stan.
