NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
THE RAFTERS HAVE PICKED UP SOME NEW FAMILY MEMBERS IN THE REVIVAL OF THE AUSSIE TV FAVOURITE
It’s intimidating becoming a Rafter after years loving the show, but new kids on the block Georgina Haig and HaiHa Le already feel like part of the family.
Starring in the Back To The Rafters revival set to air on Amazon Prime in September, the series will pick up six years after audiences left family favourites Rebecca Gibney and Erik Thompson in Packed To The Rafters.
The Rafter parents have created a new life in the country with youngest daughter Ruby, while the older children – including Haig, who replaces Jessica Marais as Rachel, and Le, who plays Ben Rafter’s wife Cassie – face new challenges.
Haig, who played Paula Yates in INXS: Never Tear Us Apart, bears a striking resemblance to Marais, and tells Insider replacing her was a big responsibility.
“I’m aware of how much fans love her character and I was so honoured to have the opportunity to play with her and do her justice, but when I read the script I felt calmer because it was all on the page,” the 36-yearold says. “When you’re given dialogue like that and the relationships are all still there I felt confident I could approach it like I do any role and do my best.”
In the much-awaited reboot, Rachel has been in New York for six years and on her return, feels disconnected from her family. Growing up on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, Haig and her screen writer husband Joshua Mapleston and daughter Greta lived in LA for the last 10 years, so she relates to Rachel’s story.
“The story is Rachel has got a secret, but she’s about to see her family a lot more and let them in and she’s been not wanting to be vulnerable in that way – she’s very independent and loves her life in New York but she’s had to confront her family,” she says. “I relate to that because I’ve lived overseas and there’s always that slight disconnect when you come back.
“It was so amazing to get to work with Rebecca and Eric – and I’d worked with Hugh Sheridan on INXS, so it was delightful to work with him again.
“It felt like coming into a real family, they were so welcoming to me and I was incredibly grateful because they knew I was coming in not knowing the same history.”
Filmed in mid February of 2020, the production was shut down by Covid in March with three weeks of filming to go. It was finally finished five months later. While Haig now calls Melbourne home, in a case of life imitating art, she and her four-year-old daughter moved in with her family in Sydney while shooting the show.
“It was a joyous thing to get back to work,” she says. “My daughter and I went and moved in with my mum for three months. It was like real-life Packed To The Rafters with three generations in our own house, but I found a lot of comfort in us all being together under one roof … it was like the whole world had to stop and take a breath.”
Le grew up a big Rafters fan, so being cast for the upcoming series was a dream for the Sydneysider, who was born in Vietnam but grew up in Melbourne and trained at the HB Studio in NYC and the Beverly Hills Playhouse in LA.
“I couldn’t believe I get to be a Rafter,” she laughs. “It’s such an iconic series – one of the most popular Australian series ever, and in terms of diversity I was so thrilled at being Asian-Australian and having a Rafter represented in that way is such a big win for Australian television.”
The 39-year-old mother of Scout, 4, and Sailor, 2, recently moved to the Blue Mountains, and has been a series regular on the ABC’s Bed Of Roses, Kick on SBS and Neighbours on Network 10, as well as guest roles on Mr Inbetween 2 and Sea Patrol.
“My character, Cassie, is very devoted to her family and is always putting them before herself – her journey is working out what her needs are versus what she wants,” Le explains.
“She has a lot of trauma through the series but always puts on a happy face and other people ahead of her, but she really has to work out what’s best for her and her relationship.
“The message ultimately is that family love and connection gets you through no matter what you’re going through.”
Even as a teenager, Le always wanted to be an actor and followed her instincts, despite pushback from her parents who wanted her to have a “stable” life and career.
“My parents told me not to do it. I had so much resistance from my family … there were no examples of Asian-Australians on-screen, so they said there was no future there,” she says. “People used to laugh at me – Footscray in the 90s was a rough place and people didn’t have lofty ambitions to be in the arts, so it was a lonely pursuit at times – but now they can see I’ve made a career out of it.
“When you have that insatiable itch, nothing will stop you.”
Back To The Rafters is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.