Wellmania: Celeste Barber is Going on a ‘Bizarre’ Wellness Journey for Netflix

Wellmania: Celeste Barber is Going on a ‘Bizarre’ Wellness Journey for Netflix

Looks like we’re going to be seeing a lot more of our Aussie comedy queen Celeste Barber, with the news she’s been cast in the lead role of Netflix comedy-drama series Wellmania.

While we don’t know a huge amount about the upcoming title, there are still some fairly exciting updates to learn about right now. So, consider this your guide to the upcoming series.

What’s Wellmania about?

wellmania
Netflix

The series has been described by Netflix as one that is inspired by the book Wellmania: Misadventures in the Search for Wellness by Brigid Delaney.

The synopsis reads as follows:

When human tornado Liv has a major health crisis, she is forced to rethink her ‘live fast die young’ attitude. Throwing herself body-first into a wellness journey, she tries everything from the benign to the bizarre in an attempt to get well quick, and reclaim her old life.

We’ll be treated to eight 30-minute episodes in season one.

Who is involved in the project?

Celeste Barber (Back to the Outback) is, as we’ve covered, confirmed in the lead role for the series. She will also act as Executive Producer on the show.

Joining Barber is JJ Fong (Creamerie) has been cast as investigative journalist, and Liv’s best friend Amy Kwan, Genevieve Mooy (The Dish) is Liv’s mum Lorraine Healy, Lachlan Buchanan (Station 19) is Liv’s brother Gaz Healy, Remy Hii (Spider-Man: Far From Home) is Gaz’s fiancé Dalbert Tan, Alexander Hodge (Insecure, Resort to Love) is Liv’s love interest Isaac Huang, Simone Kessell (Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Night Agent) is Helen King, Editor-in-Chief of The Sydney Standard, Virginie Laverdure (La Brea) is Liv’s New York editor, Valerie Jones and Johnny Carr (Five Bedrooms) is Amy’s husband, Doug Henderson.

Executive Producers include Chris Oliver-Taylor and Warren Clarke, Bree-Anne Sykes has been named as Producer. Belinda King (Cleopatra in Space) and Benjamin Law (The Family Law) have co-created Wellmania, are heading up the writer’s room and are also acting as co-Executive Producers.

When is Wellmania set for release?

It’s been confirmed that Wellmania is hitting TV screens in Australia as of March 29, 2023. It’ll be here before you know it!

Anything else I should know?

Barber gave a statement on the confirmation of Wellmania, sharing just how proud and chuffed she is to be working on this Aussie production.

I’m so excited about this project, the whole team is awesome. We’ve been working on it for a while and I’ve been busting to tell everyone about it,” Barber shared.

“I’m drawn to projects that centre around interesting, dynamic and complex lead female characters and that’s exactly what Wellmania is. I’m stoked to be working with Netflix and tell this Australian story to an international audience, and to also be an executive producer so I can boss people around.”

Que Minh Luu, Netflix’s Director of Content in Australia and New Zealand, also spoke to the significance of sharing the Wellmania story on the streaming platform.

Celeste embodies exactly what Netflix ANZ is striving for – sparking global love for being our quintessentially Australian and funny selves.

“The search for wellness and meaning is a fundamentally human drive, and in a post-pandemic world this quest carries for us more weight than ever. To have an artist with Celeste’s warmth and comedic talent guide us through the extremes, triumphs and revelations of self-improvement and understanding is an absolute delight, and one we know our members will love.”

Watch this space, pals.

If you’d like more shows that’ll give you a solid laugh, check out this list of comedies on Netflix next.

This article has been updated since its original publish date.


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