Upright returns for a second run with more mayhem in store for unlikely pals Lucky and Meg.
The comedy-drama, penned by comedian and songwriter Tim Minchin and airing on Sky Comedy this month, is a follow-up to the 2019 series Upright season 1, which saw troubled musician Lucky, played by Minchin, develop a bond with mixed-up teenager Meg (House of the Dragon star Milly Alcock) as they traveled across the Australian desert with a piano.
Now, the bickering pair are back for another hilarious but soul-baring road trip, which takes them through the rainforest.
Here’s everything we know about Upright season two…
Upright season 2 — when is the start date?
The eight-part comedy-drama begins on Sky Comedy on Tuesday, November 22 at 9 pm with a double bill and it will be available as a box set on Sky Box Sets, Virgin On Demand and Now TV. It is also set to air in the US on Sundance Now.
Upright season 2 — what is it about?
The new season opens four years on, with booze-loving, laidback Lucky now surprisingly enjoying huge success and living in a swanky Sydney home. But an ill-judged altercation with a photographer leaves his career in turmoil. Just when Lucky is at his lowest ebb, Meg, now 17, suddenly walks back into his life and asks him to help track down her mum, Linda, who left when she was a child.
“In season one, it was a journey to see Lucky’s mum, but it left open the question of Meg’s mum,” Minchin tells What to Watch. “Lucky has done well now, but he hasn’t resolved his problems, he needs saving — he needs Meg. I wanted this season to be as emotionally complex and the same sort of unfolding mystery.”
What adventures do they get involved in?
Throughout their twist-laden quest to Queensland and beyond on the trail of Linda, they face numerous brushes with danger as Lucky receives unwelcome blasts from the past and Meg deals with a worrying secret.
“There’s no piano this time! But it gets chaotic and it’s fun to put them under pressure,” says Minchin, who co-created Matilda The Musical.
“Season one was quintessentially Australian and we all see Australia as this dry place, but it's tropical as well and that comes with other challenges. They are up a river right in the heart of darkness, so it’s a fun unpacking of Joseph Conrad. They go to the depths so that they can come out the other side changed. But they end up in a cult, steal a car, and there are pig hunters, so it gets high-jinksy. I also spent two episodes in a small pair of pink pyjamas!”
Who else is back?
Daniel Lapaine (Catastrophe and The Durrells) reprises his role as Lucky’s reliable brother Toby, while Amazing Grace’s Ella Scott Lynch is back as his wife Suzie, along with Asmara Feik (Surviving Summer) as Lucky’s beloved niece Billie, who is actually his biological daughter.
Who’s new?
Jessica McNamee (Sirens and Home and Away) plays Lucky’s glamorous actress girlfriend Avery who becomes exasperated due to his reckless behavior. Hayley McElhinney (Doctor Doctor) plays Meg’s traumatized mother Linda.
Nicholas Brown (Amazing Grace) plays a mysterious figure from Lucky’s past who is now leading an off-beat new community of people with whom Lucky and Meg cross paths. Neighbours’ Travis Cotton also features as short-tempered Duncan, another old acquaintance of Lucky’s, who is stunned to encounter him once more. Noni Hazlehurst (A Place to Call Home) plays Squirrel, an elderly but shrewd lady who lives in the rainforest.
Is there a trailer?
Yes, the teaser sees Lucky declare that his life is falling apart only for Meg to turn up at his door and say, “Miss me?!” She tells him she is looking for her mum and, despite his protests, he joins her on her search.
A fast-paced sequence sees them dash across airports and through rainforests and drive on bumpy roads as they get into numerous scrapes. But we also see a tearful Meg saying that she needs someone to take care of her.
