Logie winner Tasma Walton joins Aussie megastar Frances O’Connor for new season of The Twelve

Logie winner Tasma Walton and a cavalcade of stars have kicked off filming of the second season of The Twelve in a surprise new location.

Award-winning British-Australian actor Frances O’Connor has joined the cavalcade of stars for the second season of gritty courtroom drama The Twelve which has just started filming in Perth.

The English-born, Perth-raised actor, who recently made her feature directorial debut with Emily, the drama she also wrote about Wuthering Heights author Emily Bronte – is once again collaborating with the Foxtel Group following her starring role in 2020s The End.

Frances O'Connor will join Sam Neill as the headliners for the second season of The Twelve. Picture: Supplied.

Sam Neill is reprising his Logie-winning role as Brett Colby, SC as filming kicks off for The Twelve.

Tasma Walton is one of the jurors in the second season which is filming in hers and husband Rove McManus’ home state of WA. Picture: Paul Archuleta/Getty Images

O’Connor will play Meredith Nelson-Moore SC alongside previously announced, celebrated international actor Sam Neill who’s reprising his Logie-winning role as Brett Colby, SC who is in WA to take on a high profile murder case.

Logie-winning actress Tasma Walton will also be a headliner as one of the new jurors in the new eight episode series to be shot in locations across her home state.

Walton, who lives in Perth with husband Rove McManus and daughter Ruby, said was a joy to be able to work just 15 minutes from home for the the majority of the anticipated five-month long shoot.

“Last night I got to go home and my daughter was still up so I could put her to bed,” she said.

“Often you’re away for an extended period of time and the hours are just not kind for families.

“It’s such a gift for people and families - most of us we had to leave here to go over east to make a career for ourselves.”

Frances O’Connor heads up the large ensemble cast. Picture: BINGE

Walton jumped at the chance to be part of the huge ensemble and hinted there’ll be so many more twists and turns in this second instalment of the award-winning drama.

“It’s really good,” she said.

“It keeps you guessing to the end.

“It’s a really finely placed story. I think what The Twelve does well is flesh out multiple characters and you get to see so many glimpses of other people, other worlds and works and other perspectives.”

Cast mate Fayssal Bazzi, who’s the prosecutor to Neill and O’Connor’s fierce defence lawyers, joked they had to get a Sydney-based actor for his part.

“Look I think the only reason is I’m up against Sam and Frances and no one locally wanted to go up against them,” he said.

“So when you watch the show, please root for me and wish me luck.”

Sam Neill is returning for the second season. Picture: Yianni Aspradakis/ BINGE

Binge commissioning and content executive director Alison Hurbert-Burns said she was thrilled the cameras were rolling on the second instalment of the multi award-winning and critically acclaimed Binge original.

“To have Sam Neill return, and to welcome Frances O’Connor, as part of a large and diverse ensemble cast featuring many local creatives and talent, is exciting,” she said.

“We have wanted to produce in WA for a long time, so it’s great to be here creating the next instalment of the award-winning The Twelve, with over 150 West Australian cast and crew, and hundreds of extras, helping to make it happen.”

Sharon Johal has joined the massive ensemble for Binge’s second series of The Twelve. Picture: Supplied

Joining Neill, O’Connor and Walton is an all-star Australian ensemble including Deadloch’s Kris McQuade, former Neighbours star Sharon Johal, along with Amy Mathews, Erroll Shand, Fayssal Bazzi, Josh McKenzie, Anthony Brandon Wong, Stefanie Caccamo, Sharon Johal, Luke Pegler, Adriano Cappelletta, Nelson Baker, Greg McNeill, Suesha Rana, Brad Francis, Keith Robinson, and Isabelle Bäsén.

Supporting cast include Shareena Clanton, Anthony Hayes, Myles Pollard, Gerald Lepkowski, Katherine Pearson, Caroline Brazier, Kaila Ferrelli, Jennah Bannear and Steve Le Marquand.

The Foxtel courtroom drama – will again have one of the biggest ensemble casts seen on Australian television – and headed west as part of the WA Production Attraction Incentive.

Binge was joined by Screenwest to announce the stellar ensemble cast, as production kicked off across Perth and regional WA.

Frances O'Connor grew up in Perth. Picture: Supplied

Screen West CEO Rikki Lea Bestall welcomed The Twelve to the state.

“Screenwest is thrilled to have so many high-profile actors and incredible producers working in Western Australia alongside our WA cast and crew,” she said.

“The Twelve is a significant opportunity for our local screen industry and we are excited to be working with BINGE, Warner Bros. International Television Production Australia and Easy Tiger to produce a premium Australian series here.”

The second series will follow a similar premise as the first – with a controversial murder case at the centre of the storyline, but with a new batch of jurors at the backbone of The Twelve. It’s seen through the lens of the jurors – 12 ordinary Australians who are facing their own realities and struggles.

The last series saw Neill awarded the country’s most popular actor at last month’s Logies. And the Foxtel and Binge drama swept the awards night, tying with its streaming stablemate Colin From Accounts as the big winners with their trio of awards respectively.