Play it again, Sam: The Twelve to continue its love affair with WA

A third season of acclaimed courtroom drama The Twelve has been commissioned, and actor Sam Neill is set to reprise his lead role in the series.

BINGE and Screenwest have announced a third season of the critically acclaimed and award-winning series, The Twelve, has been commissioned and is now in production in Western Australia. Pictured is Sam Neil, who stars in the series. Picture: Supplied.

A third season of acclaimed courtroom drama The Twelve has been commissioned, and actor Sam Neill is set to reprise his lead role in the series.

Production for season three – to be set and shot in Western Australia – has already started, continuing on from season two which was the biggest drama production to ever be filmed in the state.

Season three will be set in the Margaret River region and Perth surrounds, and is expected to inject at least $10m into WA’s economy and create more than 650 jobs.

The award-winning seasons one and two of The Twelve, which are available on the Foxtel Group’s entertainment streaming platform, BINGE, have been sold to multiple territories around the world.

WA’s Culture and Arts Minister David Templeman said The Twelve had provided a shot in the arm for the state’s entertainment industry.

“The legacy of the production returning to WA for another season enables continuity of work for WA screen practitioners, and more opportunities for people establishing a career in film to pursue opportunities in their home state,” Mr Templeman said.

“Western Australia has a reputation for supporting outstanding screen content that utilises the variety of locations and character of our state found across nine distinct regions and the metropolitan area.”

Alison Hurbert-Burns, Foxtel Group commissioner and executive director of entertainment content said the success of shooting season two in WA had prompted the decision to maintain the show’s presence there.

“After such a good experience filming The Twelve Season 2 in WA last year, it’s great to be back, and this time taking audiences to Margaret River and Western Australia’s dramatic southwest coast,” Ms Hurbert-Burns said.

Asked what elevated The Twelve above the standard legal drama, she said: “As a courtroom drama, it has a central crime to solve with all the twists and turns that make crime shows so popular with audiences; accompanying that, however, are the subplots of the jurors’ lives, providing layers of additional intrigue as we get glimpses into their biases and the interaction of human behaviour with the structured rules of the legal system”.

“That results in the need for a large ensemble cast to tell the many in-depth character stories which has attracted such great acting and writing talent to the show, further contributing to the audience appeal,” she said.

Neill, 77, will once again play the lead character of defence lawyer Brett Colby SC, having starred in the first two seasons of The Twelve.

Season three, which will screen on BINGE in 2025, will consist of eight one-hour episodes.

The series will be produced by Warner Bros International Television Production Australia and Easy Tiger, with major production investment from Screenwest and the Western Australian Production Attraction Incentive.

BINGE is owned by Foxtel. News Corp (publisher of The Australian) has a 65 per cent stake in Foxtel.