The first season of Wolf Creek consisted of six episodes and was released on 12 May 2016. It follows Eve, a 19-year-old American tourist, who is targeted by the crazed serial killer Mick Taylor, but survives his attack and embarks on a mission of revenge.[3][2] The show was renewed for a second season of six episodes in February 2017, which was released on 15 December 2017. The story centres around Taylor meeting a coach full of international tourists.[4][5]
American teenager Eve narrowly escapes outback serial killer Taylor when he slaughters her family at their billabong campsite in Australia's Northern Territory. Shot and left for dead, she is found by two birdwatchers and taken to hospital in Darwin. Police detective Sullivan Hill looks into her case, with her family's disappearance resembling a number of other missing persons cases over many years. However instead of returning to the United States, Eve steals Hill's case file, buys a van and heads into the outback seeking revenge.
2
2
"Kutyukutyu"
Tony Tilse
Felicity Packard
12 May 2016 (2016-05-12)
In Kutyukutyu, Western Australia, Eve runs afoul of the local police when she crashes into their car and they find a bag of marijuana left in the van by the previous owners. She manages to escape from her cell, and locates Hill who has arrived in town looking for her. Escaping the police as they arrive at Hill's motel, she heads to the house of her former cellmate, a bikie named Kane, to steal money and a gun from an armed robbery he had committed. Taylor hears that an American girl has been looking for him.
3
3
"Salt Lake"
Tony Tilse
Peter Gawler
12 May 2016 (2016-05-12)
At Salt Lake, South Australia, Eve is attacked by Kevin, who had previously assaulted her in WA. She shoots him in the leg and leaves him on the road, where Taylor picks him up, then kills and mutilates him. At the Face of the Madonna Roadhouse, Hill, Taylor and the bikies turn up at different times looking for Eve. Stuck with a broken wheel, Eve helps a convict who has escaped from a crashed prison van. Kane finds her and says that he wants her to have his children, but Eve shoots and kills him as he advances towards her. Eve drives to Opalville, where she hears Taylor is headed, but he is waiting for her.
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4
"Opalville"
Tony Tilse
Felicity Packard
12 May 2016 (2016-05-12)
Eve arrives at the mining town of Opalville, but Taylor isn't there, although he killed two tourists driving the same type of van as she. Posing as a journalist, Eve follows up the case of a missing girl from the town, Holly Welles. Speaking to Holly's parents, she discovers that the girl was killed by her own father, and as Eve tries to escape from him, one of his venomous snakes bites her. She is saved by an Aboriginal man, who teaches her to use a woomera spear-thrower. Sergeant Hill tracks Eve to Opalville, but she escapes and heads to the town of Rome, where she deduces Taylor will turn up.
5
5
"Rome"
Tony Tilse
Peter Gawler
12 May 2016 (2016-05-12)
Eve takes a job as a waitress in the town of Rome, and waits for Taylor to arrive. Hill finds her again, and they resolve to work together to kill Taylor as they agree he would walk free if arrested. As Eve goes to talk to Ben, aka "Jesus", one of Taylor's escaped victims, Taylor turns up in Rome and stabs Hill, abducting him. Eve arranges to ambush Taylor at a graveyard, but she is attacked by the bikies from Kutyukutyu seeking revenge for Kane's death. As she is about to be killed, she is saved by Johnny, the convict she helped earlier. The two share a kiss, but Eve sends him away. She wakes to find her guns gone, and Johnny beheaded by Taylor.
Eve convinces Ben to tell her the location of the meteorite crater in Wolf Creek National Park near to where he was abducted by Taylor. In the crater she finds Johnny's head and a scrapbook of news clippings about Taylor's troubled childhood, including his abusive father and the disappearance of his sister (who Taylor accidentally killed). At Wolf Creek township, Eve makes her way to the Taylor property, where she finds Hill tied up in the barn. Taylor attacks them, and Hill brings the roof down on them, killing himself in the process. Badly wounded, Eve confronts Taylor in the house where she manages to impale him with a fire poker, presumably killing him. She burns the house down and puts Hill's body under a tree, later finding that Taylor's body is gone. She is picked up by Ruth the truckie and her dog and they head to Perth. A mid-credits scene shows a blue truck speeding down the road.
A group of tourists sets off from Adelaide on an outback adventure tour: German couple Oskar and Nina, and their daughter Emma; married American couple Rebecca and Danny; gay Australian couple Johnny and Steve; Canadian best friends Kelly and Michelle; Iraq War veteran Bruce; English psychiatrist Brian; South Australian Wade; and New Zealander bus enthusiast Ritchie. At a truck stop, their driver Davo encounters Mick Taylor, who takes offence and follows Davo, killing him in a toilet block. When the tour group wakes up, they find Mick driving the bus, claiming he is their replacement driver.
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2
"Outback"
Greg McLean
Shanti Gudgeon
15 December 2017 (2017-12-15)
After a lengthy bush walk, Mick plies the tourists with "rainwater from the Top End", which he has drugged. The group passes out, and awakens over a day later with the bus in the middle of the outback. Mick is nowhere to be seen, and Ritchie, the battery and satellite phone are gone. Mick cuts Ritchie's tongue out and buries him alive in a termite nest. Danny and Johnny head out to look for help, and run into Mick. The rest of the group is horrified to find Davo's body in the refrigerated trailer, and realise Mick could be responsible. As several of the group investigate some noises outside, Mick fires his rifle at the bus's gas tanks, causing it to explode with Wade and Emma inside, badly burning Michelle and impaling Bruce with shrapnel.
The survivors leave the bus wreck, carrying Michelle with them. Rebecca and Brian return to fetch Oskar's pills, as Mick also returns. Rebecca lures him away by lighting a fire, then she and Brian disable his truck and take his shotgun and water. The group takes shelter from a storm under an overhang, although Steve and Kelly run out after seeing a car, convinced Mick couldn't have fixed his truck so quickly. Brian suffocates Michelle, believing she is slowing them down and will die from her burns anyway.
Rebecca, Brian, Oskar and Nina head for the ridge after covering Michelle with a tarp. Steve is found by two Aboriginal trackers, Patrick and Dino—the two are aware of Mick, who they call 'spirit man'. They flee after being warned off and shot at by Mick, but he later catches up with them, shooting Patrick and stabbing Dino, then abducting Steve. Kelly turns up holding Dino's dropped rifle, but Mick tricks her, stabs Steve with a fork and takes her hostage. Dino is found by Uncle Moses, who heals him and then performs a singing ritual which incapacitates Mick, although he manages to revive and kill them. Nina is bitten by a snake, slowing the group down even more. They see the lights of a mine site in the distance.
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5
"Shelter"
Geoff Bennett
Shanti Gudgeon
15 December 2017 (2017-12-15)
Kelly wakes up in Mick's lair, where he says he will break her to find the location of her friends. Rebecca, Brian, Oskar and Nina arrive at the mine site where they meet a young boy, Danny, and his parents. The father, Spence, tells Oskar that the mine closed after three men died in an incident he attributes to infrasonic waves from the Wolf Creek crater. Mick arrives, sharing a few drinks with Spence before killing him and his family and searching the site. Rebecca and Oskar try to restart Mick and Spence's trucks so they can get to Mick's lair and find some fuel and hopefully survivors. Trapping Mick in a shed, they manage to transfer some petrol and escape. Rebecca and Brian are relieved to see the other truck following, unaware that Mick has killed Oskar and is driving with a catatonic Nina.
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6
"Return"
Geoff Bennett
Mark Dapin & Greg Haddrick
15 December 2017 (2017-12-15)
Mick blows a tyre, slowing him down while Rebecca and Brian arrive at his lair. Brian looks for petrol, while Rebecca explores the mine tunnels looking for Danny. Mick arrives and locks the shed Brian is in, but he gets out and prepares to escape on his own. Rebecca steps on a spike, but manages to kill Mick's dog and find Danny and Kelly still alive. Mick catches Brian leaving, but Brian manages to talk Mick into letting him go as they both have a callous disregard for others. Brian returns for the truck keys, killing Nina when she refuses to hand them over, and admitting he was actually a psychiatric inmate, not a psychiatrist as he had previously told the group. Mick changes his mind and shoots Brian, killing him. As he pursues Kelly, Rebecca ignites the petrol in the tunnels, blowing up the mine, with her still inside. Mick later catches up to Kelly, but decides to let her go, believing that she will die before she can reach the nearest town. Later, in an outback pub, Mick watches a news story about the tour group's disappearance. In a post-credit scene, Kelly collapses in the desert, but opens her eyes as her phone gets reception and starts to beep and vibrate.
Production
In October 2016, Jarratt suggested that Wolf Creek would be returning for a second season and a later film.[7] Stan officially announced that Wolf Creek had been renewed in February 2017 and would be released in late 2017.[8] Filming began in South Australia in July 2017. The six-episode second season saw John Jarratt reprise his role as Mick Taylor, alongside new cast members Tess Haubrich, Matt Day, Ben Oxenbould, Laura Wheelwright, Stephen Hunter and Chris Haywood. The story centres around Taylor meeting a coach full of international tourists – a complete departure from the first season's storyline which sees the show become an anthology style program, and won't see Fry reprise her role as Eve Thorogood.[4][9] The second season was released on 15 December 2017.[5]
Greg McLean returned as showrunner and director, along with Kieran Darcy-Smith and Geoff Bennett. Lisa Scott and Kerrie Mainwaring were producers for the series. Executive producers were Rory Callaghan, Greg Haddrick, Greg McLean, Nick Forward and Rob Gibson. Writers on the series were Nick Parsons, Shanti Gudgeon and Mark Dapin.[4]
Reception
The series has received generally positive reviews. Nikole Gunn of Decider TV wrote, "It’s beautifully filmed with cinematography usually reserved for the 'Big Screen'" and that "It's chilling and unforgettable".[10] David Knox of TV Tonight awarded the premiere four out of five stars and wrote, "If there's a box Wolf Creek hasn’t got checked, it's hard to find here".[11]
Within the first four days of the first season being made available, more than 500,000 viewers sampled the program, including 40,000 subscribers who watched all six episodes.[12]
Broadcast
Broadcast rights for Wolf Creek in North American and Latin American markets were acquired by Lionsgate,[13] and the show aired in the United States albeit for a limited time from 14 October to 18 November 2016 on the Pop network which Lionsgate held a stake in at the time.[14] In the UK, the series aired on Fox in August 2016.[13]
