Alan Ritchson, Charlize Theron and Florence Pugh lead Netflix ANZ Slate

Alan Ritchson, Charlize Theron and Florence Pugh are among the stars headlining Netflix’s 2026 Australia-New Zealand slate.

The line-up includes several high-profile international productions using Australian locations and crews. Victorian filmmaker Patrick Hughes returned home to direct “War Machine,” an action-sci-fi feature film shot at Bright, Myrtleford, Melbourne and Docklands Studios. Set during the final 24 hours of an elite military selection program, the film stars Ritchson alongside Dennis Quaid, Stephan James, Jai Courtney, Esai Morales, Blake Richardson, Keiynan Lonsdale and Daniel Webber. Hughes co-wrote the screenplay with James Beaufort. Todd Lieberman and Alexander Young produce for Hidden Pictures, Patrick Hughes and Greg McLean produce for HUGE FILM and Rich Cook produces for Range. The premiere is on March 6.

Theron tops ‘Apex’, an action thriller directed by Baltasar Kormákur and filmed in the Blue Mountains and Canberra. The April 24 release, which also stars Taron Egerton and Eric Bana, follows a grieving woman who tests her limits in the Australian wilderness and becomes entangled in a deadly game. Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping and David Ready produce for Chernin Entertainment, Ian Bryce for Ian Bryce Productions, Charlize Theron, AJ Dix and Beth Kono for Secret Menu, and Kormákur for RVK Studios.

Pugh headlines ‘East of Eden’, a contemporary reinterpretation of John Steinbeck’s classic novel, shot in New Zealand. The limited series, which explores the multigenerational saga of the Trask family with renewed focus on antihero Cathy Ames, features Christopher Abbott, Mike Faist, Hoon Lee, Tracy Letts, Martha Plimpton, Ciarán Hinds, Joseph Zada ​​and Joe Anders. Zoe Kazan serves as co-showrunner, writer and executive producer alongside co-showrunner Jeb Stuart. Garth Davis and Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre direct and executive produce, while Fifth Season and Anonymous Content produce.

The third and final season of ‘Heartbreak High’ premieres March 25, after Hartley High’s graduating class follows a revenge prank gone wrong. Created by Hannah Carroll Chapman, the Fremantle Australia and NewBe series stars Ayesha Madon, James Majoos, Chloé Hayden, Asher Yasbincek and Thomas Weatherall.

Netflix also unveiled the first look for “My Brilliant Career,” an adaptation of Miles Franklin’s iconic novel, filmed in Adelaide. The series stars Philippa Northeast as Sybylla, a young woman in 1901 Australia who was determined to become a writer, despite her family’s plans to marry her off. Liz Doran adapted and wrote the series, which is produced by Jungle Entertainment with Alyssa McClelland and Anne Renton directing.

Other Australian productions include ‘Allen’, a film from Ludo Studio (the makers of ‘Bluey’) starring TJ Power, created by Daley Pearson and shot in Brisbane and the Gold Coast; and ‘Breakers’, the first Netflix series filmed in Western Australia. The latter film, from Clerkenwell Films and BBC Studios Australia Productions, stars Antony Starr, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Oliver Edis and Annabel Wolfe in a drama about two American backpackers who become involved with a mysterious surfing community. Mary Nighy and Ng Choon Ping are directed from a script by Pete Jackson.

Peter Berg’s ‘The Mosquito Bowl’, based on Buzz Bissinger’s book about college football stars who enlisted in the Marines after Pearl Harbor, filmed in Brisbane and the Gold Coast. The World War II drama stars Nicholas Galitzine, Bill Skarsgård, Ray Nicholson, Tom Francis, Brent Comer and Dominic Bogart, with Berg and Mark L. Smith writing. Peter Berg produces for Film 44, with Brian Grazer for Imagine Entertainment and Alex Gayner.

Unscripted: “The Golden Ticket,” filmed on the Gold Coast with Eureka Productions. The competition series challenges participants to find golden tickets and navigate games in a retro-futuristic dreamscape inspired by the world of Roald Dahl.

The animated series includes ‘Stranger Things: Tales From ’85’, produced by Sydney-based Flying Bark Productions with executive production from the Duffer Brothers, and ‘Steps’, a remake of Cinderella from Netflix Animation Studios produced in Sydney with animation production shared with Vancouver. The latter features voice work from Ali Wong and Stephanie Hsu, with production from Amy Poehler, Jane Hartwell and Kim Lessing.

This is the first slate overseen by Amanda Duthie, Netflix’s newly appointed content director for the territory.

“Throughout my career, I have seen that local stories resonate most powerfully when they are highly specific, true to a character, a community or a moment in time,” Duthie said. “This 2026 list brings together stories that differ widely in tone, scale and ambition, from all corners of the region.”

Since 2021, Netflix has invested more than AU$10 million ($7 million) in building capacity in the Australian and New Zealand screen industries through paid placements, training and development initiatives, particularly for emerging and underrepresented practitioners.