Roimata Fox and Morgana O’Reilly on the set of Sky New Zealand Originals & ZDF series Bust Up. Photo / Supplied.
Roimata Fox and Morgana O’Reilly on the set of Sky New Zealand Originals & ZDF series Bust Up. Photo / Supplied.
Morgana O’Reilly, the Kiwi star of The White Lotus, will follow up the Hollywood dark comedy with a leading part in local procedural crime series Bust Up.
O’Reilly will lead the six-part Sky New Zealand Originals and ZDF drama series alongside Roimata Fox, who is known for her actingwork in A Remarkable Place To Die and Muru.
The plot of Bust Up sees former romantic partners Deb Brighton (O’Reilly) and Mihi Renata (Fox) who after a decade apart are forced to partner up again as cops on the beat in the fictional town of Waitote, in the north of New Zealand.
Morgana O'Reilly plays Deb Brighton in Bust Up. Photo / supplied.
A press release said each episode of Bust Upwill centre on a stand-alone crime with the duo’s slow-burning relationship story unfolding across the series. “While both women are adamant that their working partnership can’t possibly succeed, the truth is increasingly evident – they make a great team."
Filming for the drama commenced in May, with the series due to screen in Aotearoa on Sky Open, Neon and Sky Go in 2026. Bust Up is being produced by production company Lippy Pictures in coproduction with German partners MadeFor Film, ZDF, and ZDF Studios, who will also act as the distribution partner.
Roimata Fox stars as Mihi Renata. Photo / Supplied
Paula Boock and Donna Malane of Lippy Pictures said, “To make a procedural drama that showcases the diversity and beauty of Aotearoa and openly centres the attraction between two women police officers is a special opportunity and we’re proud to have the backing of Sky, ZDF and a sales team that is primed to sell it to the world,
“It’s been enormous fun taking the much-loved buddy cop genre out of the closet and giving it a contemporary, queer twist, while also exploring the struggles, triumphs and eccentricities that exist in bicultural communities of New Zealand. Bust Up is two parts crime, two parts drama and one part just bonkers!”
The series will be directed by International Emmy Award winner Max Currie (Rūrangi) and Awanui Simich-Pene (The Brokenwood Mysteries), with screenplays written by Donna Malane, Paula Boock, Holly Hudson and Annette Tahitahi Fifield.
