''Firebite'' is an Australian streaming television drama series created by Warwick Thornton and Brendan Fletcher which premiered on AMC+ on 16 December 2021 and ran for 8 episodes until 3 February 2022.

Premise

Set in a remote mining town in the middle of the South Australian desert, the series centers around two

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

hunters, Tyson and Shanika, who protect their home Opal City from vampires. Their lives are turned upside down when a former hunter from Tyson’s past shows up informing them the last vampire king has arrived with plans that will shift the balance in their war against the vampires.

Cast

* Rob Collins as Tyson Walker. A former Blood Hunter, and Shanika’s guardian. He uses Kangaroo Hunting as cover to hide hunting vampires. He acts immature when raising Shanika but is protective of her and keeps his community safe. He is skilled in using the Indigenous hooked boomerang in hunting vampires. His favorite song is 'Black Boy' by

Coloured Stone Coloured Stone is an Aboriginal Australian band whose members originate from the Koonibba Mission, west of Ceduna, South Australia. The band performs using guitar, bass, drums, and Aboriginal instruments – didjeridu, bundawuthada (gong ston ...

Shantae Barnes-Cowan Shantae Barnes-Cowan (c. 2004) is an Australian actress. She is a Adnyamathanha woman who starred in '' Wyrmwood: Apocalypse'', '' Sweet As'' and the TV series ''Firebite''. Other roles include '' Total Control'' and ''Operation Buffalo''. ...

as Shanika "Neeks". Tyson's partner and adoptive daughter. She is proud of her Indigenous roots and despises

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

toward her and her people. Her Mum was taken when she was a child resulting in Tyson raising and training her. She loves Tyson but will speak her mind when she wishes to take the fight further with the vampires. * Yael Stone as Eleona. A barmaid in Spud's bar. She has a fling with Tyson. She's revealed to be a vampire who left the Last King to live in peace. She was a mother before the King forced her to feed on her baby resulting in her hate for him and desire for his death. * Callan Mulvey as The Last Vampire King. Last of the 11 original Vampire Lords who invaded Australia. He is cruel, sociopathic, intelligent, and ruthless. He killed Jalingbirri's team upon his arrival. *

Jai Koutrae Jai Koutrae is an Australian actor who gained fame for his role as Nathan Chapel in ''Death's Requiem'', which garnered him an Australian Screen Actors Guild Award. Koutrae has starred in many other successful Short films, short and feature f ...

as Spud. Owner of a bar Tyson frequents often. He is partners with Eleona and knows her secret letting her buy him off for access to his tunnels. He also deals in illegal dynamite sales. *

Kelton Pell Kelton Pell is an Aboriginal Australian (Noongar) stage, TV and film actor, best known for his role as the court liaison officer, Sam Wallan, in the SBS legal drama '' The Circuit'' set in north-western Australia. Pell is from Western Australia. ...

as Jalingbirri. A veteran Blood Hunter and Tyson's mentor. He follows the traditional lore of hunting vampires and disapproves of Tyson's lifestyle. He chased after the Last King but was injured and saved by Tyson and Shanika from the tunnels after an ambush. He owns a modified Semi-trailer truck that houses his weapons and gear. *

Ngaire Pigram Ngaire Pigram is an Australian actress. For her performance in the second series of '' Mystery Road'' she was nominated for the 2020 AACTA Award for Best Guest or Supporting Actress in a Television Drama. Other screen performances include ' ...

as Kitty Sinclair. Tyson's ex-girlfriend. He still harbors feelings but usually misses his chance. She works at the clinic and cares for Shanika's well-being. She's unaware of vampires and Tyson's past resulting in her believing he's irresponsible in raising Shanika. *Tessa Rose as Aunty Maria. The leader of her community. She knows of vampires and tries to hide their existence to avoid panic in the community. She knows about Tyson's history and tries to get him to take his hunting seriously. * Greg Tait as Smokey. A member of the community who lost all his siblings to the vampires. He wishes for revenge for their deaths. He holds Maria and Tyson responsible for hiding the truth.

Episodes

Production

Development

In June 2021 AMC Studios greenlit a co-production between AMC Studios and See-Saw Films an 8-part series which is set to be written and directed by Warwick Thornton and Brendan Fletcher. In August, Tony Krawitz joined as a director and AMC+ announced that Yael Stone, Rob Collins and Callan Mulvey would have leading roles. The series will also star Shantae Barnes-Cowan.

Filming

The series began filming in August 2021, and is filmed in the traditional Country of the Antakirinja Matu-Yankunytjatjara people of the Western Desert and

Kaurna The Kaurna people (, ; also Coorna, Kaura, Gaurna and other variations) are a group of Aboriginal people whose traditional lands include the Adelaide Plains of South Australia. They were known as the Adelaide tribe by the early settlers. Kaurn ...

People of the

Adelaide Plains The Adelaide Plains (Kaurna name Tarndanya) is a plain in South Australia lying between the coast (Gulf St Vincent) on the west and the Mount Lofty Ranges on the east. The southernmost tip of the plain is in the southern seaside suburbs of Ade ...

in and around

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, the regional town of

Coober Pedy Coober Pedy () is a town in northern South Australia, north of Adelaide on the Stuart Highway. The town is sometimes referred to as the "opal capital of the world" because of the quantity of precious opals that are mined there. Coober Pedy is ...

, and at the Adelaide Studios in South Australia.

Release

On 7 November 2021, AMC released first look images and announced that the series was scheduled to be released 16 December 2021. In Australia the series will be released via the AMC bundle on both Apple TV and Amazon Prime.

Reception

The review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reports a 86% approval rating with an average rating of 7.20/10, based on 7 reviews for the first season.

References

{{AMC Shows 2021 Australian television series debuts 2020s Australian drama television series English-language television shows Television shows set in South Australia AMC (TV channel) original programming Vampires in television