Tasma Walton didn’t just sign on to a new drama – she walked back into a world shaped by her own people, her own places, and the kind of storytelling that hits close to the bone.
In Reckless, the new four-part crime caper from creator and executive producer Kodie Bedford, Walton shoulders a role that’s jagged, darkly funny and unmistakably Western Australian.
The series pairs her with AACTA winner Hunter Page-Lochard as June and Charlie, siblings whose already fragile relationship shatters when a hit-and-run drags them into a spiralling cover-up.
A single lie becomes a landslide; suddenly Fremantle itself- its backstreets, quirks, music shops and long-held grudges – is caught in the blast radius.
A role that feels lived-in
For Walton, Reckless didn’t feel like stepping into a character so much as stepping back into community.
“When Indigenous stories come from this space of lived experience, knowledge and community, it’s always such a joyous experience,” she told Mediaweek.
She’s worked with much of the team before, something she calls a rare asset in an industry that often pulls creatives apart as quickly as it brings them together.
“That combination of literal experience on a set with other people and the personal experience that comes to the fore – it’s always valuable.”
Hunter Page-Lochard and Tasma Walton in a still from Reckless.
Fremantle, in all its messy beauty
The production doesn’t treat Fremantle as set dressing; it treats it almost like family: flawed, funny, historic, stubborn.
“The beautiful thing about this script,” Walton explained, “is the there’s that specificity of being located in Western Australia. There are wonderful subcultural references that so many West Australians will get.”
And yet she insists it’s never exclusionary. “The wider community can enjoy it too, because it’s not so cryptic that you can’t understand what’s going on.”
From Hilda’s Records – Charlie’s fictional shop – to the shoreline and old pubs that breathe in and out of the scenes, Reckless looks like a love letter written on crumpled notebook paper: smudged, honest, deeply local.
Humour born from survival
There’s a thick seam of comedy running through the show, the kind that comes from truth rather than punchlines.
“There’s such a wonderful comedic streak, and it comes from Kodie’s brilliant mind,” Walton said. “It’s that wonderful thing so many indigenous elders say – you’ve got to laugh or else you’ll cry.”
But she refuses to “perform funny”.
“To me, it’s always about the authenticity of the character,” she said.
“If somebody tells me a particular line is a laugh line, I’ll never be able to play it. I start to overthink it, and I will always mess it up.”
Hunter Page-Lochard and Tasma Walton in a still from Reckless.
A crime caper with heart
Walton’s voice lights up when she talks about what Reckless represents on screen.
“What I love is that it showcases that lovely Aboriginal humour,” she says. “It’s almost like a crime caper, a reverse whodunit, and it shows the world of these characters without any explanation or justification.”
There’s something powerful, and almost quietly radical, in that simplicity.
“It’s funny, it’s clever, and it can be quite dark at times,” she said.
“These Aboriginal characters are simply existing in their world the best they can, sometimes making questionable choices in their fight for survival. Just human beings trying to get by in a crazy, crazy world.”
What emerges in Reckless isn’t just a gripping plot or a smartly built WA drama.
It’s a portrait of place and people stitched with humour, grit and a kind of emotional honesty television rarely gives them space to show.
All episodes are available to stream on SBS OnDemand.