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"Game of Thrones" actor Iain Glen is pulling double duty this year. Fresh from leaving his dragon and his role as Jorah on HBO's hit show, Glen has a starring role in "Cleverman," a fascinating new Australian drama airing in the US on Sundance TV.
Drawing from Aboriginal mythology, "Cleverman" follows two brothers caught up in a conflict between humans and the indigenous Hairypeople. The matted fur covering their body and their long, sharp nails make for a startling appearance, similar to werewolves. But in truth, the Hairypeople have their own language and culture and existed long before humans. (They are not mutated humans, but are a separate species.)
The show's central conflict is the increasingly oppressive measures the Australian government takes to keep Hairypeople, called "Hairies," separate from humans.
Hairies are relegated to the Zone, essentially a racial ghetto, and the show follows both the government's attempts to keep hairies contained in the Zone and their attempts to integrate into the human world.
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Although the story incorporates a number of supernatural elements, it also has a number of immediate real-world parallels: Immigration, indigenous peoples' rights, police brutality, and segregation are all major elements of the series.
Iain Glen plays Jarrod Slade, a TV executive who uses footage of Hairies being raided by police to boost ratings for his shows. Although initially portrayed as manipulative and self-serving, Slade has a hidden link to the show's titular Cleverman, a powerful mystic connected to the Aboriginal realm of dreams and spirits.
"Cleverman" has already been renewed for its second season and airs Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. on Sundance.
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