Spy: The secrets of Ahikāroa’s success

Ahikāroa has been proud to contribute to the normalisation of te reo Māori in local drama. Photo / Supplied

Te reo, fashion and style are just some of the secrets of the success of ground-breaking bilingual TV drama series Ahikāroa. The Whakaata Māori series celebrated a massive milestone when it celebrated 100 episodes at the end of last season.

The show has been proud to contribute to the normalisation of te reo Māori in local drama because it’s spoken so fluidly by actors playing a group of friends living and surviving in the big city.

Style has also been a huge factor in the success of the series with its fashion-forward aesthetic, with fans quick to follow the trends introduced by the characters in the series.

The show’s cast are known as some of the most stylish people in New Zealand television.

This season, the look has been created by up-and-coming costume designer Ruby Tautuhi-Lloyd, sister of the equally fashionable Kanoa Lloyd. Three new stars are joining the talented cast in the fifth series, which starts at the end of this month — and a sixth series has also been confirmed.

Richard Te Are and Mataara Stokes are not new to the world of Ahikāroa, but this year they are ready to take to centre stage.

The multi-talented Stokes has roles both behind and in front of the cameras. He has worked in the costume department and has also created the series’ social media campaigns, and now takes on a lead role in the new series.

Stokes shot the campaigns for Stan Walker’s “You Know” clothing campaign and the stills for the music videos for Kiwi crooner TEEKS. Most recently he was the voice of adult Simba on the te reo version of Disney’s The Lion King.

Te Are has featured on Ahikāroa before but takes on a new role this season that’s set to ruffle some feathers. The actor had not even finished at Toi Whakaari, New Zealand Drama School, when he was chosen to play Teina Pora in the tele-feature In Dark Places. Since then, he’s gone on to feature in The Luminaries, last year’s smash hit movie Whina and the incredibly successful theatre show The Haka Party Incident.

A new addition to the Ahikāroa whānau is Dylan Thuraisingham, who made his television debut on Kiwi rugby drama Head High. Since then, he’s hit the ground running with roles on the mega-smash hit movie M3gan, Netflix’s Sweet Tooth and The New Legends of Monkey as well as NBC’s sitcom Young Rock, based on the life story of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and international drama One of Us is Lying.