The Narrow Road to the Deep North (miniseries)

The Narrow Road to the Deep North is a 2025 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. It stars Jacob Elordi, Odessa Young, and Ciarán Hinds. The series follows Dorrigo Evans across three periods: before his deployment to the Second World War, during his time as a Far East prisoner of war, and several decades after the war. Each period reveals different parts of Dorrigo's love affair with his aunt, Amy. The series was released on Amazon Prime on 18 April 2025 to critical acclaim.

The Narrow Road to the Deep North
Promotional poster
Genre	Drama
Created by	Justin Kurzel Shaun Grant
Based on	The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan
Written by	Shaun Grant
Directed by	Justin Kurzel
Starring	Jacob Elordi Odessa Young Ciarán Hinds Olivia DeJonge Heather Mitchell Thomas Weatherall Show Kasamatsu Taki Abe Charles An Akira Fujii Jack McGreal Simon Baker George Simitzis
Country of origin	Australia
Original language	English
No. of episodes	5
Production
Executive producers	Justin Kurzel Shaun Grant Jo Porter Rachel Gardner Richard Flanagan
Producer	Alexandra Taussig
Production companies	Curio Pictures Screen Australia Amazon MGM Studios
Original release
Network	Amazon Prime Video
Release	18 April 2025 (2025-04-18)

Cast

• Jacob Elordi as Dorrigo Evans
• Odessa Young as Amy Mulvaney
• Ciarán Hinds as Older Dorrigo Evans
• Olivia DeJonge as Ella
• Heather Mitchell as Older Ella
• Thomas Weatherall as Frank Gardiner
• Show Kasamatsu as Major Nakamura
• Taki Abe as Colonel Kota
• Charles An as The Goanna
• Akira Fujii as Kenji Mogami
• Simon Baker as Keith Mulvaney
• Masa Yamaguchi as Lieutenant Fukuhara
• Sean Murphy as Gallipoli Von Kessler
• George Simitzis as Australian Soldier
• Jack McGreal as Australian Soldier
• Rupert Bevan as The Poet
• Essie Davis as Lynette Maison
• Dan Wyllie as Rick Maison
• Ewen Leslie as Edward Lansbury

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
1	"Episode 1"	Justin Kurzel	Shaun Grant	18 April 2025 (2025-04-18)
The episode follows Dorrigo Evans across three alternating timelines. In one, he is a young medical student in Australia who is preparing to ship out to war. He asks his girlfriend Ella to marry him. Meanwhile, he becomes close to his aunt, Amy. In the second timeline, Dorrigo is shown as a prisoner of war in a Japanese labor camp. In the third, he is an old man, and a respected surgeon. He is interviewed by a journalist who asks him about his time in the war. In the earlier timeline, Dorrigo is entertained by Amy at his uncle's suggestion when the uncle cannot meet. They get drunk and share an embrace.
2	"Episode 2"	Justin Kurzel	Shaun Grant	18 April 2025 (2025-04-18)
3	"Episode 3"	Justin Kurzel	Shaun Grant	18 April 2025 (2025-04-18)
4	"Episode 4"	Justin Kurzel	Shaun Grant	18 April 2025 (2025-04-18)
5	"Episode 5"	Justin Kurzel	Shaun Grant	18 April 2025 (2025-04-18)

Production

Development

In March 2018, Fremantle acquired rights to Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan, to adapt into a television series.^[1] In November 2019, it was announced Justin Kurzel would direct the series, with Shaun Grant serving as writer.^[2] Fremantle later exited the project with Curio Pictures serving as producer instead.^[3]

Casting

In November 2022, Jacob Elordi joined the cast of the series.^[4] In November 2023, Odessa Young, Ciarán Hinds, Olivia DeJonge, Heather Mitchell, Thomas Weatherall, Show Kasamatsu, Charles An, and Simon Baker joined the cast.^[5]

Filming

Principal photography began in November 2023,^[6] and filming continued through to March 2024.^[7]

Release

Amazon Prime Video distributed the series in Australia, United States, Canada, and New Zealand, with Sony Pictures Television set to distribute elsewhere internationally.^[8][9] 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.^[10] The series was acquired by the BBC for broadcast on BBC One & the BBC iPlayer in United Kingdom.^[11] 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).^[12]

Reception

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 100% approval rating with an average rating of 8.3/10, based on 23 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."^[13] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 83 out of 100 based on 8 critics, indicating "universal acclaim " reviews.^[14]

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".^[15] Hugh Montgomery of the BBC praised the acting of Elordi and Young and described them as possessing "smouldering chemistry".^[16]