‘Faraway Downs’: Baz Luhrmann’s Six-Part ‘Australia’ Re-Edit Will Hit Hulu This Winter With A New Ending & New Soundtrack

While out there promoting the hell out of his new film, “Elvis,” filmmaker Baz Luhrmann has made it no secret that he plans on re-editing his 2008 film, “Australia,” and turning it into a limited series. Well, now we finally have more details and it’s starting to sound like “Australia” is getting the full Snyder Cut treatment.

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According to Variety, Baz Luhrmann is turning his feature film, “Australia,” which stars Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman, into a six-episode limited series coming to Hulu (and Disney+/Star internationally) later this year. Not only that, the new version of the project will include a new ending, a new soundtrack, and has a new title, “Faraway Downs.”

“I originally set out to take the notion of the sweeping ‘Gone With the Wind’ style epic and turn it on its head,” Luhrmann said. “A way of using romance and epic drama to shine a light on the roles of First Nations people and the painful scar in Australian history of the ‘Stolen Generations.’”

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Craig Erwich, president of Hulu Originals and ABC Entertainment added, “Baz is one of the world’s great auteur storytellers, so revisiting ‘Faraway Downs’ and experiencing his incredible film Australia in this unique, new episodic format has been a revelatory and unique adventure. We look forward to taking viewers into the ranch and to experiencing all of the stories that are both held within and continue to unfold there.”

Originally released in 2008, “Australia” is a highly ambitious film (as you can tell from Luhrmann wanting to recreate the feeling of “Gone with the Wind”), but it failed to catch on with critics and audiences, turning into a very expensive bomb upon its release. However, in the nearly 15 years since its release, “Australia” has grown a bit of a cult following, which led to renewed interest in Luhrmann returning to expand on his vision. The film follows an English woman, Lady Sarah Ashley (Kidman), who inherits a farm in Australia. And while there, she crosses paths with the drover (Jackman). 

Luhrmann promises the six-episode series will include plenty of new footage from the original shoot and will be presented in a more serialized format, versus just chopping it up into six parts. An exact release date hasn’t been announced, but “Faraway Downs” is expected to arrive this winter.