Caitlin Stasey’s shock Neighbours confession

She got a big break on Ramsay Street before moving to Hollywood, but now Caitlin Stasey reveals why she regrets not appearing in the Neighbours finale.

As public discourse has matured over the years, so have opportunities for women in film and television. Just ask Australian actor Caitlin Stasey, who left Neighbours after she grew out of teen-oriented parts, and then left the country to work overseas (and, yes, start eyebrow-raising online conversations about sex and identity). Until, that is, the female-centric Aussie black comedy Class Of ‘07 drew her home – due in no small part to the wealth of women on set, both in front of the camera and behind it. As Stasey tells The Binge Guide, “Things are becoming more varied and diverse, and it’s really exciting.”

During her time on Neighbours from 2005 to 2009, Caitlin Stasey became a teen sensation playing Rachel Kinski, a student seemingly caught in a constant loop of relationships.

But when she left the series, the actor unfolded a bolder narrative of her own, posting about feminism and sexual freedom on her social media feeds.

Nude selfies weren’t off-limits, either; nor were explicit essays about sex on her pioneering website Herself.com.

Caitlin Stasey: ‘I felt really brave back then, very convicted, very sure.’ Picture: Corrie Bond for Prime Video

Of course, media commentators were quick to lash out, considering her a brash provocateur.

“It was particularly rough because the bulk of where I’m known is the UK and Australia, and the UK media is so f*cking savage, and toxic, and corrosive,” the 32-year-old reflects to The Binge Guide from her home in LA.

“I felt really brave back then, very convicted, very sure. And what’s so funny is I still completely believe in the things I said... Well, most of them – sometimes I’d go off the deep end a little.”

Stasey says she still finds it perplexing that people in the entertainment industry had no problem with her filming graphic sex scenes for her mid-2010s drama series Reign but baulked at her talking about her own sexual desires online.

“It’s really interesting that dichotomy exists and how little sense it makes,” she says with a shrug.

So Stasey is making her solidarity with like-minded ladies absolutely clear: she has returned home to star in upcoming Australian black comedy Class Of ’07.

Co-starring Emily Browning (The Affair) and Megan Smart (Home And Away), the eight-part series follows a group of alumnae left marooned by a flood during their 10-year high school reunion.

“The draw card of ’07 wasn’t just that the people on camera were women but that the people behind the camera were, too,” Stasey says.

Caitlin Stasey: ‘Things are becoming more varied and diverse, and it’s really exciting.’ Picture: Corrie Bond for Prime Video

In themes and execution, Class Of ’07 Is part of a wave of shows placing the social dynamics of women front and centre, like Yellowjackets, Creamerie, Bad Behaviour, and 2018’s Picnic At Hanging Rock.

“Things are becoming more varied and diverse,” Stasey says of this rise in inclusive storytelling.

“And it’s really exciting.” Class Of ’07 is just the beginning of the Melbourne-born actor’s homecoming.

Fresh from her role in the hit 2022 horror film Smile, she’s shooting a thriller, Devil Inside, with another Aussie export, Ryan Kwanten (True Blood) in Tasmania.

“There’s so much of Australia that I still want to see,” Stasey admits. “I’d also love to make my own stuff there, because there’s just such a wealth of talent [in Australia].”

Caitlin Stasey features in this Sunday’s Stellar. Picture: Steven Chee for Stellar.

While she wasn’t among the famous faces who returned for the (ultimately premature) Neighbours finale last July, Stasey says she is open-minded about making an appearance on Ramsay Street.

“I think because I wasn’t super receptive [to returning] back in the day, they didn’t bother to ask me about it this time, which is a good lesson for everyone,” she says.

Now, however, Stasey says, “I’d totally go back for an episode.”

But, she adds wryly, “It sucks that I’ve had to spend over 10 years away and work as much as I have just to be like, ‘I think I’m ready to go back to Neighbours.’”

Class Of ’07 will stream from March 17 on Prime Video.

Originally published as Caitlin Stasey’s shock Neighbours confession