#’Stateless’ EP Previews the Immigration Drama Inspired by a True Story

Preview Ben King/Netflix

Four lives collide at an Australian immigration detention center in this powerful and timely limited series from executive producer Cate Blanchett.

Loosely inspired by the real-life case of a woman who was unlawfully detained under an Aussie policy, Stateless centers on Sofie (The Handmaid’s Tale‘s Yvonne Strahovski, above), an emotionally fragile flight attendant fleeing a cult, and Ameer (Fayssal Bazzi), an Afghani refugee torn away from his family, as they endure life in a government facility overseen by a bureaucrat (Asher Keddie) and protected by an ethically torn security guard (Jai Courtney). 

“Broken systems lead to broken people,” explains Tony Ayres, an executive producer along with Oscar winner Blanchett (who costars with The Affair‘s Dominic West as the creepy couple behind Sofie’s cult). “Eventually, a crisis will put pressure on [the situation] to the point of breaking. That’s when we see the cracks both in the system and the individual trying to exist in it.”

Those cracks can also create space for something both Sofie and Ameer will desperately need to survive their situation. “There is always hope,” says Ayres. “It’s a precondition of human existence.”

Stateless, Series Premiere, Wednesday, July 8, Netflix