Big Names Return to Australian Screens in 2027

Big names are set to return to Australian screens in 2027, with a slew of new and returning shows announced. Kitty Flanagan will reprise her role in the beloved office comedy Fisk for its fourth season, while Hollywood heavyweight Hugo Weaving will star in the new drama The Great White.

Returning Favourites

Kitty Flanagan, who co-wrote Fisk with her sister Penny Flanagan, said they were inspired to revisit the story of Helen, a wills and probate lawyer, because they finally "understand what probate is and how it works".

"I have to admit, we've kind of been faking it for three seasons. We'd throw around the word 'probate' wherever it sounded right," Flanagan joked.

The sisters had no choice but to learn all about "the goddamn admin and probate" after their father died earlier this year.

"Don't expect Helen to fall in love ... suddenly develop a fashion sense ... [or] any great social skills," Kitty Flanagan said of Fisk's upcoming fourth season.

"He was our biggest fan and was so proud of us and the show," Flanagan continued.

"I said to Penny, 'It would be crazy not to do another Fisk, now that we actually know what we're talking about'. And I think Dad would be delighted to know his passing inspired us to do this new season."

New Drama and Returning Stars

Also coming to Australian screens next year is new drama The Great White, with Hugo Weaving transforming into a brilliant but disgraced barrister named Alan Armstrong, who's desperate to restore his reputation and get out of debt.

From the producers of Slow Horses and Apple Cider Vinegar, the series follows Armstrong as he joins an ailing law firm and takes on a dangerous dog case that ultimately sets him on a path of self-discovery.

Rebecca Gibney, who last appeared in an Australian scripted show in 1995, will front Rural Crime Unit alongside The White Lotus breakout star Morgana O'Reilly and relative newcomer Philip Lynch.

Gibney sees Rural Crime Unit "as a peek into a rural Australian town that we may have all driven through, with characters that are sometimes larger than life but never boring".

"When I read the initial description of Jolene and then the script, I knew I had to play her," the Packed to the Rafters and Halifax f.p. star said.

"There isn't a murder of the week, there are no dead bodies and while the two cops are certainly central to the story, this show is as much about the characters as it is about the crimes themselves."

New and Returning Crime Series

Fortitude Valley is another in the string of new crime offerings, but this series takes a darker approach to the genre, in a similar vein to 2026 hit Treasure & Dirt.

Set in Brisbane, it stars Hunter Page-Lochard, who will play a detective investigating the discovery of human remains in a recently demolished building.

"Fortitude Valley has always felt fresh to me, especially because of the cast," said star Hunter Page-Lochard.

Page-Lochard hopes the project will help other Indigenous creatives like him see a place for themselves in more contemporary Australian drama.

"That would be really special," he said.

Kate Box leads the series Help Me!, billed as an off-kilter and darkly comedic thriller, playing a daughter forced to reconsider her fractured relationship with her eccentric mother.

Box said her and Sarah Peirse's characters were "perfect sparring partners, bound by love, matched in smarts and a complete pain in each other's arse".

Box put the surge in emotionally charged thrillers to come next year down to an "awakening in our responsibility to scrutinise our part in the machine".

Other Returning Shows

You Can't Ask That will be back on screens for the first time in four years, with Kirk Docker co-creating the award-winning entertainment series.

Docker said part of the reason for the show's return was to remind us we can still ask tough questions, "even though we're in a pretty conflicted world right now" — and that we can ask them of other people.

"If you talk to a chatbot, or if you ask Google something, you're going to get a summarised version … with no nuance, it's flat," he considered.

Documentary competition series Race Around the World will also be returning, fresh off the back of its 2026 reboot.

Zan Rowe said she started getting the sense Race Around The World "couldn't be more perfect for the times" while filming the most recent season.

"It was a massive unknown because it was almost 30 years since the original series," she said.

Hard Quiz is returning next year too, for what will be its 12th season.

Host and comedian Tom Gleeson predictably said he was "quite happy" to continue making the show forever — or at least until executives tell him to stop.