Top of the Lake sequel China Girl, with Elizabeth Moss and Nicole Kidman, is even darker than first series
Co-writers Jane Campion and Gerard Lee, together with actresses Elisabeth Moss, Nicole Kidman and Gwendoline Christie, reveal what it took to produce follow-up series – starting this week on Now TV – that was never intended
When Jane Campion’s masterful New Zealand-set series Top of the Lake was broadcast worldwide in 2013, it was only ever meant to be a one-off.
Following the story of Sydney detective Robin Griffin (Elisabeth Moss) as she investigates the disappearance of a 12-year-old girl in the remote town of Laketop, the seven-episode television drama concluded decisively. But then came multiple Emmy nominations, plus a Golden Globe win for Moss, and thoughts of a second series started to bloom. “We were encouraged by the response from the audience,” Campion says.
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It helped that the commissioning editors had given her such freedom for those seven episodes – surprising, seeing as it was her first television series, following a film career that included acclaimed works such as The Piano and Bright Star.
“They were very radical,” she says. “With film, they’re all so anxious all the time; what’s the audience going to think of this? They test it, they worry about it. Whereas in television, they really just say to me, ‘Jane, just do what you want. We want your story, how you want to do it.’ The only thing they worry about is profanity.”
Co-writer Gerard Lee, who had previously worked with Campion on her 1989 film Sweetie, admits he was “surprised that we were able to do it again”. But the pair got to work, with the first task to ensure Moss was on board for playing the emotionally fragile Robin again.