National Indigenous Television (NITV) has announced the voice cast of its animated children’s comedy series Eddie’s Lil Homies, which will premiere on NITV and Netflix in early 2024.
The ten-part series will star Hunter Page-Lochard (Cleverman, The Newsreader, Barons) as Eddie, Miah Madden (Bali 2002, The Clearing, The Bureau of Magical Things) as Lottie, Andrew Dang as Tal and Billy Betts (Eddie Betts’ eight-year-old son) as Junior.
Supporting cast members include Leela Varghese (A Beginner’s Guide to Grief, Totally Wild) as Shanti, James Smith as Lachie and Crystal Nguyen (Erotic Stories) as Decks.
Inspired by former AFL star Eddie Betts’ popular book series, Eddie’s Lil’ Homies, say the producers, ‘joins Eddie and his group of friends on their playground adventures as they navigate the fun and challenges of friendship. Outside of home and away from school, their friends are family and the playground is their universe. It’s a world of competition, imagination and fantasy, where anything and everything is possible, where imaginary friends can be real, games of rock paper scissors can take on stupendous importance, and kindness, empathy and a good rap can help put anything right’.
Betts said: ‘It has been wonderful to see our Eddie’s Lil’ Homies characters come to life in the hands of such a talented cast headed by Hunter and Miah, and a great experience for Billy to be a part of the series and learn from such a diverse group of actors. Each of the cast members have brought so much fun to their character, we can’t wait for kids to laugh and rap along with them when they watch the series next year.
NITV’s Head of Commissions, Marissa McDowell, said: ‘We are thrilled to be working with this group of brilliant and diverse actors on Eddie’s Lil’ Homies. At NITV, our purpose is to create content made by, for and about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This beautiful children’s series is the next step in that journey, and we couldn’t do it without the help of Eddie Betts, Anna Scullie and their family, as well as Sophie Byrne, Netflix and ACTF.’
‘It’s so important for children to see themselves represented onscreen, and this exciting and humorous series does exactly that.’
Eddie’s Lil’ Homies is the first co-commission between Netflix and NITV, with major production investment from the Australian Children’s Television Foundation (ACTF).
Eddie’s Lil’ Homies premieres on NITV, Netflix and SBS On Demand in early 2024.
