Jacki Weaver Replacing Judy Davis In ITV & Stan Drama ‘Two Birds’

EXCLUSIVE: Two-time Oscar nominee Jacki Weaver has replaced Judy Davis in Two Birds, the upcoming thriller from the UK’s ITV and Australia’s Stan. First look images are above and below.

Davis has dropped out due to scheduling conflicts, we understand.

Her place playing the formidable Mrs Baxter is taken by Weaver, who has starred in the likes of Yellowstone, Picnic at Hanging Rock and Secret City down the years. She was twice Oscar nominated for 2010’s Animal Kingdom and 2012’s Silver Linings Playbook.

Sheridan Smith is playing the lead in Two Birds, which is shooting in Western Australia and centers on Constable Izzie Cornwell (Smith), who arrives from the UK into a remote Australian mining town hoping for a fresh start, only to have a disastrous misstep pull her into an increasingly tight web of deceit, guilt, and rising danger.

Stephen Peacocke (Five Bedrooms) and Colin Friels (Water Rats) are also starring, with Fiona Button (The Split), Eva Morgan (The Gathering), Harry Greenwood (Klara and The Sun), Nic Cassim (Mr Inbetween), Victoria Fowler (Dalliance), Lila McGuire (The Twelve), Kit Jeakings-Bull (Invisible Boys), Matthew Pearce (Home and Away), Sarah Roberts (Scrublands) and Matt Day (Rake) cast.

Mr Bates vs the Post Office producer Patrick Spence is attached to make through his AC Chapter One, with Martha Coleman attached through Third Act Stories. Helen FitzGerald (The Cry) and Megan Palinkas (Heartbreak High) are the writers, with James Griffiths (The Ballad of Wallis Island) and Corrie Chen (Good Cop/Bad Cop) the directors. ITV Studios is the international producer.

The announcement was made on a busy Stan upfronts alongside new shows with Rachel Griffiths, Angourie Rice and Anna Friel, and a revival for McLeod’s Daughters.