As new-look images are released of the highly anticipated romantic comedy series Top End Bub, co-creator, executive producer and star Miranda Tapsell is only half joking when she speaks of the power of the pen.
"I was single when I wrote Top End Wedding," Tapsell told ABC News.
"And then I became pregnant while I was writing this show.
"So, I feel like becoming a screenwriter really has made me manifest what I wanted in my life."
Bub is used as a term of endearment. (Supplied: Prime Video/John Platt)
Tapsell, who has a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Grace, wants you to know, though, that the Bub in Top End Bub is an eight-year-old.
"Her nickname is Bub because, I guess, that's the kind of term of endearment that I got called when I was growing up, 'where are you going, Bub? What are you doing, Bub?'"
Top End Bub is a follow-up to the 2019 smash hit film Top End Wedding. In the series, Tapsell (Love Child, The Sapphires, The Artful Dodger) and Gwilym Lee (Bohemian Rhapsody, The Great) reprise their roles as Lauren and Ned.
Gladys-May Kelly makes her acting debut as Taya, aka Bub, in Top End Bub. (Supplied: Prime Video/John Platt)
Lauren is a dynamic Indigenous lawyer ticking off her life goals in Adelaide. When her eight-year-old niece is orphaned, Lauren and her husband Ned reluctantly abandon their big-city goals and move to the Top End to raise the child.
Gladys-May Kelly makes her acting debut as Taya, aka Bub.
"She took the role with both hands and ran with it," Tapsell says of Kelly.
"She was just so inspiring to watch. As an adult, more and more doubt comes into your mind, whereas, seeing the beautiful kind of youthful curiosity that Gladys brought to the show made me realise, 'Oh, wow, I can just be here with you'.
"She was just so present and a delight to be with."
If you think it's unusual for a series to follow a movie as its sequel, you're right.
Top End Bub is a follow up to the smash-hit film Top End Wedding. (Supplied: Prime Video/John Platt)
"It's kind of crazy to think that we wrote the film almost 10 years ago," Tapsell said.
"And after it was released in 2019, we thought to ourselves, 'well, there's so much more to a marriage than just the wedding.'
"We were so proud of the film, and I had built up such a rapport with Gwilym that we thought, 'no, there's more to their marriage. We've only scratched the surface.'
"And we felt that a series was a perfect opportunity for Lauren and Ned to learn about each other and we felt that the NT [was the place to do that]."
Top End Bub showcases the natural beauty of the Northern Territory without resorting to stereotypes. (Supplied: Prime Video/John Platt)
Tapsell, a Larrakia and Tiwi woman, was born in Darwin and grew up in Kakadu National Park from the age of five.
"Most of my school holidays were spent bush walking, swimming, camping, fishing, so I really lived in the outdoors, essentially, and I didn't really appreciate it back then," Tapsell said.
"I really wanted the kind of childhood that Hollywood presented to me. I wanted to go walking through malls and checking out my crushes and eating pizza and burgers and sharing milkshakes with my girlfriends.
"Can you tell I watched Clueless?
"But as I've gotten older, I realised what a beautiful childhood that was. That time was more important than money and it wasn't the root of your happiness, and it was the simple pleasures that this place brought to me that I really thought would be the heart of the show."
Top End Bub also stars Clarence Ryan (pictured), Ursula Yovich, Huw Higginson, Shari Sebbens, Elaine Crombie, Tracy Mann, Rob Collins, Brooke Satchwell and Guy Simon. (Supplied: Prime Video/John Platt)
Tapsell says the show provides a more authentic portrayal of the Top End than we're used to seeing.
"I think the show really does subvert the kind of stereotypes that we know the Territory to be," she said.
"Yes, it can be a hot, isolated place, but there's so much more to it. And I think we celebrate all of those parts."
The portrayal of family also shows that one size doesn't necessarily fit all.
"I think it really does champion the kind of families that are formed in a non-conventional way," she said.
"I feel like so often the Aboriginal community can be depicted as a negligent kind of community that forgets about their children. But that's not what I grew up seeing.
"I grew up with a lot of attentive family members that loved the children in their community.
"So, at the heart of the story, that's what I wanted Top End Bub to celebrate and show.
"I really do believe that this show is going to cut through so much noise in terms of how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people actually are.
Tapsell says Top End Bub depicts non-conventional families. (Supplied: Prime Video/John Platt)
"I think using the world of the rom-com was the perfect fit because you always want to root for the characters in a rom-com. You always care about what happens to them.
"And so, for me to show you a family that really does try its best to work together despite how much they infuriate and press each other's buttons, I felt showing their humanity was the best way … to share my experience as an Aboriginal woman living with my community."
Top End Bub is an Australian Amazon Original and will premiere in 2025 on Prime Video in Australia and New Zealand.