Guy Pearce's The Clearing filming in Australia for Disney+

Principal photography has begun in Victoria on the Disney+ Australian event series The Clearing. 

Teresa Palmer (A Discovery of Witches), Miranda Otto (Annabelle: Creation) and Guy Pearce (Mare of Easttown) lead the all-star cast in the Disney+ Original Series.

Produced by Wooden Horse, the series is based on J.P. Pomare’s novel In the Clearing and is inspired by the real-life Australian cult 'The Family' and its founder Anne Hamilton-Byrne, one of the rare female cult leaders in history.

In the eight-part psychological thriller, a woman is forced to confront the nightmares of her past to stop a secret cult intent on gathering children to fulfil its master plan.

Alongside the series' leads, the cast also includes Hazem Shammas (Safe Harbour), Mark Coles-Smith (Mystery Road). They are joined by newly announced cast Kate Mulvany (The Twelve), Xavier Samuel (Elvis), Claudia Karvan (Bump), Anna Lise Phillips (Irreverent) and Harry Greenwood (The Nightingale).

As well as Erroll Shand (The Luminaries), Doris Younane (Five Bedrooms), Miah Madden (Dive Club), Julia Savage (Blaze), Gary Sweet (Wentworth), Alicia Gardiner (Deadloch), Matt Okine (The Other Guy) and Jeremy Blewitt (The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart) alongside Lily La Torre (Run Rabbit Run) and Ras-Samuel Welda’abzgi (Neighbours).

The new series is directed by by Jeffrey Walker (Young Rock,) and Gracie Otto (Seriously Red), and is created and written by Elise McCredie (Stateless) and Matt Cameron (Jack Irish), with co-writer Osamah Sami (Ali’s Wedding).

The Clearing is produced by Wooden Horse’s Jude Troy (The Other Guy 1 & 2), with Wooden Horse’s Richard Finlayson and Egeria’s Elizabeth Bradley serving as executive producers alongside Jeffrey Walker, Jude Troy, Elise McCredie and Matt Cameron.

The event series launch date is to be confirmed.