TELEVISION
PENS NEXT?
pare a thought for Kate
Atkinson—she can barely go
a day without Wentworth fans
asking her what’s ahead for
Season 6 of the Australian
drama. Is Joan “The Freak”
Ferguson (Pamela Rabe)
really dead? What about
Sonia (Sigrid Thornton)? Will she be back
to further terrorise Liz (Celia Ireland)?
And what will happen now that her character,
Vera, has been rendered all but powerless
by Joan?
“I can’t say! Honestly!” Atkinson tells
WHO. But if there’s one thing Wentworth
fans have come to realise, it’s to expect
the unexpected with this series.
Though tight-lipped about The Freak’s
fate, Atkinson says the future for Vera
revolves around the fallout from those
shocking final scenes from Season 5.
“There’s a big storyline that occupies
Vera, Jake [Bernard Curry] and Will [Robbie
Magasiva] later on, which has a lot to do
with Ferguson’s death,” she explains. “I can’t
say much, except to say it takes the show
in this really interesting, psychological
thriller area.”
We pick up this season with Wentworth
in lockdown after the escape of Frankie
(Nicole Da Silva) and Ferguson.
Commissioner Chandler (Gary Sweet)
has been sacked, and Vera is struggling to
maintain control over an increasingly
strained inmate population. It’s a powder
keg just waiting to explode.
Atkinson, who has been a cast member
since Season 1, says fans can expect these
new episodes to head in a very different
direction, partly because of the addition of
three new characters: biker Rita Connors
(played by Leah Purcell), hot-headed inmate
Ruby Mitchell (Cleverman’s Rarriwuy Hick)
and crime matriarch Marie Winter
(portrayed by Susie Porter).
“It’s a good season for everyone, and the
new characters bring a whole new energy
to things,” Atkinson says. “This is great for
those of us who have been here for six
seasons—there are all these whole new
relationships to unpack. The show is
always different, every season, andS