Twin Peaks on the Gold Coast? This unlikely show could catapult an Aussie to stardom

Luke Cook moved from Sydney to Los Angeles 18 years ago, when he was just 20, looking to break into acting. It’s a familiar story: kid chases dream in Hollywood, hustles for work, and eventually suffers well-meaning but depressing questions about when he’ll admit defeat (for Cook, it came around the time of his 30th birthday at a family Christmas).

Thankfully, things picked up after that. You might recognise Cook from his role as Lucifer in Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, his guest spot as Jack Danby in the latest season of Hacks, or his skits on social media (he has 2.7 million followers across Instagram and TikTok).

But what happened next was much stranger. After “18 years of slogging”, he finally scored his first lead role in a TV series … and it was on the Gold Coast. With a star from Gossip Girl.

“My acting teacher in LA used to have a saying, ‘You’re going to Australia tomorrow’. It was his way of saying to an actor, ‘Are you ready?’ I’ve been thinking about that line forever. And last year, I got that call.”

Cook stars alongside Leighton Meester in the upcoming Stan* original series Good Cop/Bad Cop. Outwardly, it’s a very American show. The sitcom follows an odd couple brother and sister detective team, Henry and Lou Hickman, solving crimes and getting reacquainted in a small town in the Pacific Northwest (Twin Peaks is an explicit reference for the location styling). It was created by US writer/producer John Quaintance (Will & Grace, Workaholics), and will also screen on The CW – where Meester made her name as Upper East Sider Blair Waldorf almost two decades ago.

But, beneath the surface, the show is a supremely Australian endeavour. The majority of the writing and all directing was done by local creatives, including Trent O’Donnell (No Activity), Gracie Otto (Heartbreak High) and Julie De Fina (The Office Australia). The entire thing was shot between Canungra and sets at Village Roadshow Studios, a 15-minute drive from Dreamworld. And almost every actor aside from Meester and her on-screen father, played by Clancy Brown (The Penguin), was cast in Australia. Familiar faces include Felix Cameron, Dan Ilic and Leah Vandenberg – all putting on their best American accents.

“It’s funny to have my biggest success so far in this industry be shooting in Australia, on the Goldie,” Cook says.

Luke Cook as Henry Hickman, very much not in the state of Washington.Credit: Vince Valitutti/Stan

“But it doesn’t surprise me. No one’s shooting in Los Angeles any more. It went down after the strikes. And after the fires, it’s gone down even more. Meanwhile, Australia is a beautiful place that people are excited to go, we have some of the best crews in the world, and we have a government that’s aware you [should] incentivise creatives to make stuff there.”

He’s referring to the federal government’s location offset scheme, which offers foreign productions a 30 per cent refund on expenditure in Australia. It’s seen a steady stream of Hollywood titles come Down Under.

“Productions are fleeing Los Angeles [for locations with better incentives]. This city is built on Tinseltown, and it no longer supports Tinseltown.”

“I think Good Cop/Bad Cop employed 200 people for four months. Any government that doesn’t want to incentivise that; that’s their loss.

“There’s such an optimism in the Australian industry … We’re not doing Underbelly eight anymore!”

Luke Cook

Does that mean he’d leave? After all these years of trying to establish himself? Absolutely. Cook and his wife (New Zealand-born stylist Kara Cook) are now interested in moving home, especially as they feel it’s a safer place for their two young children to grow up.

After “18 years of slogging” in LA, Australian actor Luke Cook considers coming home.

It’s a move that probably wasn’t viable 18 years ago, but he says there’s now “such an optimism in the Australian industry” – as well as more flexibility, post-pandemic, to audition virtually for roles – that makes it feel possible.

“Stan, Binge and all these streaming networks are creating all this good and interesting content … We’re not doing Underbelly eight any more!”

Good Cop/Bad Cop is certainly an interesting show, and not just because of the location. (A moment of appreciation, though: they had to close roads to change the direction of traffic, create an American football field, and try to shoot in between laughter from the local kookaburras. It’s wild). The series also has a supremely nostalgic feel, combining the uniform beats of a standard police procedural with the charm and comedy of a classic sitcom.

Quaintance actually conceived of the show back in 2009 – and it feels that way. This was the year after Monk left the air and The Office US hit its peak; it was an era before we had the phrase “peak TV”, when long-running shows such as House and Dexter were copping regular Emmy nominations and Modern Family won best comedy five years in a row.

Adam Brody, Meester’s husband and star of The OC, also guest stars in one episode. Credit: Vince Valitutti/Stan

“I think [classic sitcoms] definitely fell away since then,” Cook says. “Comedies have caught a lot of stick in the last few years for being too political or preachy”.

He doesn’t mention any shows by name, but Ted Lasso’s turn to delivering cringeworthy PSAs about issues such as revenge porn feels like a relevant example.

“What I like about [Good Cop/Bad Cop] is its universal nature. I think it’ll be people’s safe place … If you watch NCIS, you will like this show. If you watch Brooklyn Nine Nine, you will like this show.”

This diner will look very familiar to Twin Peaks fans.Credit: Vince Valitutti/Stsan

That might make it sound stale, but the show is celebratory of its pop-cultural lineage: each episode is stacked with references to everything from CSI to SVU’s Olivia Benson to Sherlock Holmes.

Cook does, however, hope his character – described as “a deeply odd duck” who has “rigid opinions” and subpar interpersonal skills – “doesn’t fall into the Monk trope”.

Nicknamed the “defective detective” due to his obsessive-compulsive disorder, Tony Shalhoub’s Adrian Monk is one in a long line of autistic or spectrum-coded characters who seem supernaturally good at their jobs as a result of their neurodiversity. Cook is often asked if Henry is autistic but says he “never played him that way”. “I played it as a guy who, yes, is socially awkward but thinks he is the only one who views the world in a correct way.”

He actually first declined the opportunity to audition for the role simply because he didn’t think he would get the part. “I never saw myself as the Dwight Schrute character,” he says, and thought he could more economically spend his time. Like the vast majority of people on our screens, Cook can’t live off what he makes as an actor and relies on other jobs – including teaching fitness classes – to get by.

“I love my life. I love the hustle,” he says. “But my wife did say to me the other night, ‘When do we catch the break? Is the break coming?’

“This feels like the break, in many ways ... But if you see my bank account, you’ll know it’s not,” he says, laughing.

*Stan is owned by Nine, the owner of this masthead.

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