Hulu boards Top of the Lake sequel

US streamer Hulu has taken exclusive subscription VoD rights in the US to the Top of the Lake sequel, which stars Elisabeth Moss and Game of Thrones’ Gwendoline Christie.

BBC2 drama Top of the Lake

The six-part crime drama entitled Top of the Lake Season Two: China Girl will premiere in the US on AMC Networks’ SundanceTV (a partner in the first series) and the following day will be available on VoD via SundanceTV and Hulu.

See-Saw Films is producing for BBC2 in a coproduction with BBC Worldwide (BBCWW)’s Australian pay channel BBC First, Australia’s Foxtel, the BBC’s UK TV in New Zealand and SundanceTV, in association with Hulu, France’s Arte and BBCWW, which is selling rights in the rest of the world.

Production is underway in Sydney directed by Jane Campion, who co-directed the original with Garth Davis, and Aussie Ariel Kleiman. Producers are Philippa Campbell and Libby Sharpe while Campion, See-Saw’s Emile Sherman, Iain Canning and Jamie Laurenson, and the BBC’s Lucy Richer, are attached as exec producers.

The screenplay by the original’s writers Campion and Gerard Lee starts four years after the finale of the first season when the unidentified body of an Asian girl washes up onto Sydney’s Bondi Beach. Investigating what seems a hopeless case, detective Robin Griffin (Moss) discovers that China Girl didn’t die alone.

The producers have not revealed the character played by Christie, who starred in Star Wars: The Force Awakens as Captain Phasma, a role she will reprise in Star Wars: Episode VIII.

The supporting cast includes David Dencik (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo), Campion’s daughter Alice Englert (Beautiful Creatures, the BBC’s Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell) and Ewen Leslie (The Daughter, Deadline Gallipoli, Wonderland).