Prime Video Australia Wants Its Own ‘Maxton Hall’ – Interview

Prime Video Australia and New Zealand can say they are onto something as 2026 approaches its second quarter, The Narrow Road to the Deep North again High end tub taking it to the top of the award-winning streaming service at the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards last month.

The most popular and widely viewed The Deadloch is expected to return next week, hopes are high that the run can continue, but for Sarah Christie, Head of Amazon MGM Studios Australia and New Zealand Originals, and Hwei Loke, Head of Prime Video Australia and New Zealand, there is something else to bite.

“Amazon is really known as a place for YA,” Christie said. “We would like to find an Australian Summer I turned beautiful or Australian Maxton Hall. For us, it’s about capturing the voice of that new generation, the stories of young people or anyone of that age.”

The only problem is that Australia doesn’t exactly have a legacy in YA that much Cases he was able to reach the Spanish-speaking world, or Maxton achieved in contemporary German-language series such as It’s dark again The queen. Netflix has had success with reboots of Heartbreak Abovewhile genre movies like horror by Danny and Michael Philippou talk to me they have captured the voice of young Australians, but broadly YA feels underutilized in the country.

Christie is literally measured in her response when Deadline asks if she gets enough sub-titles in the genre. “I would say that we have an opportunity to grow in that area because we don’t have a specific history in the Melodi area like this Cases trilogy, which just exploded,” said Christie.

“We have a very different understanding. It’s a place to experiment, to play, to grow and to take big, bold risks to talk to that audience, but what’s also exciting is that we have so much talent on screen – Jacob Elordis, Josh Heustons and Thomas Weatherals. We’ve seen success widely in Australia and we want to continue to find the right stories for those audiences.”

Christie’s challenge to Australian producers is to find out if a YA hit comes in the strangest of local productions. By November 2025, the government is introducing broadcasting service standards that say major players must allocate a portion of their local revenue to Australian original news. Broadcasters such as Prime Video and Netflix have campaigned hard against the rules, but none have made any major decisions after losing the argument. The message is clear: Pitch.

‘Deliver a range of content’

Christie, Loke and Head of Content Alexandra Gilbert form a three-strong, all-female leadership team that oversees Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios in Australia and New Zealand. A former Disney and Paramount marketing executive, Loke has been in his position since 2024, promoted from marketing to replace Hushidar Kharas and oversees everything from exclusives, third-party licensed content, engagement, local marketing and portfolio management, live sports, and internal relations.

YA has also been high on her agenda, last year launching Prime Book Club LIVE, a free fan event to celebrate. Summer I turned beautiful again Cases close to their creators and stars. “What we are focusing on at the core of the strategy is what the viewers are looking for,” he said. His role is significant, covering 1 pay-per-view movie windows, sports deals like local NBA rights and ICC cricket and streaming favorites HBO Max and Paramount+ (before it became one, of course).

As 2026 looms as a year of consolidation, we ask how the Warner-Par merger and other big-money deals like Banijay-All3Media might impact his plans at Amazon. “We are committed to working with our partners – we have 27 partners who have signed up for supplements so far,” Loke replied. “They bring a breadth of content to our service and deliver something to our consumers the way they want it. We’ll continue to deliver that, building a service that matters most to people’s everyday entertainment decisions.”

Loke says 2025 has been a “pivotal” year for his strategy. “I’m about 16 months into my role, and I’m proud of what we’ve been able to achieve, from the successful storytelling led by Sarah, who is known worldwide for The Narrow Road to the Deep North and in the area with High end tubthe launch of live streaming – the second year of ICC cricket and the first of NBA rights.

“We’ve been able to engage more deeply with our audience through events like Prime Book Club and all while expanding the scope of our content through our partners. All of that adds up to an amazing place for customers like this first entertainment site, with a strong, female-led team.”

The Narrow Road to the Deep North he was outstanding, winning nine AACTAs, including Best Lead Actor for Elordi, possibly Australia’s hottest actor of the moment, as well as numerous awards. Christie calls the win, which helped Prime Video become the most awarded broadcaster, “a huge testament to the wealth of talent on display in Australia and the international recognition of Jacob’s Golden Globe nomination is one of the ‘pinch me’ moments of your career. We’ve really managed to capture a very unique Australian story and take it to the world stage.”

High end tubMiranda Tapsell’s optimistic and melancholy TV series from Top End Wedding“totally different in tone” from the black color of the The Little Way and represents the original spread from the slide, alongside documents such as the cricket series The test and the Australian rules football system Finally Siren: Inside the AFLseries of true crime shows and shows featuring household icons such as children’s singers The Wiggles. “What really unites the slate is that it’s purposeful and writer-driven,” Christie said.

The Deadloch Season 2, featuring Kate Box and Madeleine Sami as comic cops Dulcie and Eddie, will be hoping to recreate the success of Season 1, which reached the top 10 on Amazon’s TV charts in 165 locations and received an International Emmy nomination.

“It’s very funny, but it’s also a sad mystery,” said Christie of the show, which takes detectives from a small Tasmanian town to the humid Top End in the Northern Territory to investigate a new murder. “People come looking for comedy, but it also attracts underground fans.”

He calls the game “a great example” of how Amazon supports local creators. “It’s one of the most Australian shows you’ll ever see – in its bones and DNA – and Season 2 has a lot of crocodiles as characters. We’ve seen it in social media and in the press from the US, writing Aussie slang guidebooks, that it proves the authenticity of storytelling works around the world.”

Elsewhere, new formats are being developed in the comedy-entertainment space. We ask Christie and Loke whether LOL: The Last Laugh may return as an Australian original for the first time since 2019, but local fans may be disappointed with the response. “LOL it’s been a huge success for the company around the world,” said Christie of the format, which has been remade on Prime Video everywhere from the UK to India and Iceland.” “It’s an example of how a team can work globally and double down on success. Anais Baker [Amazon MGM Studios Head of Global Formats] he’s smart about sharing information across the studio, but there’s nothing we can announce today.”

Prime Video has launched around 31 originals since the novel adaptation of its ANZ foundation The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart in layout format List of Lux in Sydneybut Christie says there is no fixed number each year.

“We’re not always talking to a slot-based business, and we’re really going where the audience is coming from with the story,” he adds. “I like to think of it as buckets that I walk around trying to fill.” While Prime Video Australia has a well-developed sense of what its subscribers want, Christie says there’s always room for surprise: “Then I have my mystery bucket, which is up to the producers to fill in the things I don’t know what I want.”

Looking ahead, there are a number of domestic and international considerations ahead. Christie says the broadcaster is “working” through “complex” new broadcasting rules, but insists the platform is “committed to telling great Australian stories” regardless. “We are truly committed to doubling down on what has worked for our viewers.”

There have also been changes at the top of Amazon’s original tree, with former Netflix executive Peter Friedlander named Head of Global TV last September, and former Paramount TV Studios boss Nicole Clemens taking over as Vice President and Head of International Originals months before that. Has their strategy been heard?

“I feel very grateful to work with smart, creative leaders,” said Christie. “Nicole Clemens has an amazing track record and is already making amazing strides. It’s been a great year thinking back and taking those moments to fully reflect on the business on the international front. We’re always looking at what we’ve done well, and putting that down and looking to the future – this isn’t a football-watching business.

“One of the most exciting things coming from Australia is working in a global business, where we share knowledge. It’s not often that we meet creative leaders from all over the world, and what we get is the movement of global themes. There is a lot that unites our businesses, but we are all first-place, which continues to be the goal of our truly international team. As in one day – Amazon is always the same.”