Cate Blanchett will star in ABC drama series, Stateless about border protection and refugees

She’s played the role of UN High Commissioner arguing for refugee rights at the UN Security Council — now Cate Blanchett leads an all-star cast in a new drama about border security.

Cate Blanchett will explore the divisive territory of border control and refugees in a new ABC drama series announced today.

Stateless will feature an all-star international cast including The Wire’s, Dominic West, A Handmaid’s Tale heroine, Yvonne Strahovski, The Suicide Squad’s Jai Courtney and multiple-Logie winner, Asher Keddie in a six-part political thriller about “four people caught up in an immigration system that profoundly affects their lives.”

Blanchett, who is also credited as co-creator and executive producer, said: “while this story centres on Australia, the dilemmas that it explores through four absorbing characters will resonate globally: the desire for personal freedom, the need for social stability, an escalating lack of faith in the political process and the deeply unsettling impact that has on individual lives.”

Boss … Blanchett will act as star, co-creator and executive producer of the six-part limited drama series, Stateless. Picture: Ernesto S. Ruscio/Getty Images

The four strangers include an “airline hostess escaping a suburban cult, an Afghan refugee fleeing persecution, a young Australian father escaping a dead-end job and a bureaucrat caught up in a national scandal.”

“When their lives intersect they are pushed to the brink of sanity, yet unlikely and profound emotional connections are made amongs the group.”

Acclaimed theatre actor, Fayssal Bazzi, will play a lead role, with the ensemble to include Kate Box, Rachel House, Clarence Ryan, Claude Jabour, Rose Riley and Helana Sawires.

Inspired by real events, “the series intertwines gripping and devastating personal stories revealing a system struggling with the irreconcilable contradictions of border protection.”

Last year, Blanchett made global headlines when the UN High Commissioner appeared before a session of the powerful UN Security Council to discuss the plight of Myanmar’s Rohingya refugees.

Winner … Offspring star and Logie favourite, Asher Keddie will join the all-star cast including Dominic West and Yvonne Strahovski. Picture: Darren Leigh Roberts

The Matchbox and Dirty Films co-production has been bankrolled by the taxpayer-resourced Screen Australia, the ABC and the South Australian Film Corporation, where the series will begin filming next month.

Jocelyn Moorhouse (Proof, The Dressmaker) and Emma Freedman (Offspring, Puberty Blues) will share the directing duties, while the scripts have been written by Elise McCredie and Belinda Chayko.

NBCUniversal will look to distribute the series in other TV markets, including the US and UK, where the themes of immigration and border control are also hot-button issues.

The Coalition Government — which has campaigned on tough borders and homeland security — is yet to announced its arts policy; while Labor has pledged to provide $40 million to the ABC across scripted drama, comedy, children’s TV and music (with an additional $20 million for SBS to produce Australian content).

Leading man … Jai Courtney, who starred in The Suicide Squad and Jack Reacher, is part of the Stateless ensemble, to begin filming next month. Picture: Deryk McAlpin