Territory begins with a death. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that not everyone in this series — about the fight for power in Australia’s unforgiving and awe-inspiring Northern Territory — makes it to the end of the finale.
The story follows the fight for control over Marianne Station, the largest cattle station in Australia — and a billion-dollar empire — after heir Daniel Lawson (Jake Ryan) is found dead and patriarch Colin (Robert Taylor) must choose a new successor. In line are screwup alcoholic oldest son, Graham (Michael Dorman); Graham’s ambitious wife from a rival family, Emily (Anna Torv); Graham’s twentysomething prodigal son, Marshall (Sam Corlett); and Graham and Emily’s whipsmart teenage daughter, Susie (Philippa Northeast).
Circling Marianne are billionaire mining magnate Sandra Kirby (Sara Wiseman); notorious cattle thief (and Emily’s brother) Hank Hodge (Dan Wyllie); Indigenous station owner Nolan Brannock (Clarence Ryan); and nefarious cattle baron (and Emily’s ex), Campbell Miller (Jay Ryan). Also caught in the drama are Sandra’s son, Lachie (Joe Klocek), who strikes up a relationship with Susie; Marshall’s ne’er-do-well friends, Rich (Sam Delich) and Sharnie (Kylah Day); Indigenous Community spokesperson Keeley Redford (Tuuli Narkle); drifter Elton (Matthew Sunderland); and revered Acacia Plains elder Uncle Bryce (Hamilton Morris).
The characters were written after extensive research by co-creator Timothy Lee, including a trip to immerse himself in the show’s Northern Territory settings. “It was important for Tim to see it for himself and understand the innovative ways that these rivalries play out,” co-creator Ben Davies told Netflix. “By putting himself in that world, the people themselves were able to tell him the stories about everything from how the business works, the hierarchy of characters, the desire for legacy, the importance of land ownership, the scale and its identity. Also, some of the language — they’ve got their own accent and vernacular that needed to be part of the scripting.”
“I soaked in everything they could give me, all the attitudes, the world, the stories,” Lee told Netflix. “Some of the stories were occasionally pretty confronting but it was really valuable. They were so stranger than fiction, but they were gold and gave me plenty of fodder to work with.”
Read on to find out how those stories contributed to the epic conclusion of Territory — and find out who survives the bloody shoot-out at Marianne.
Emily has made no secret of her ambition to take over Marianne Station — and joining the Lawson family from her hardscrabble, cattle-thieving background has helped legitimize her aspirations. But she’s still constantly trying to prove herself to father-in-law Colin while also fixing the messes of alcoholic husband Graham — and securing a piece of Marianne as inheritance for Susie.
With one foot inside the world of the Lawsons and one foot outside of it, she reignites her spark with first love Campbell. But since Campbell won't change his stripes for her, she quickly calls it quits to fight against his own sabotage of Marianne (like, you know, all the cattle he’s stealing from them, and the dirty work he’s doing for Sandra Kirby).
Emily brokers a deal with Colin to bring Marshall, who’s been spending time adventuring with Rich and Sharnie rather than focusing on his future, back into the family fold. Meanwhile, Marshall also gets himself tied up in some cattle smuggling drama with Campbell’s criminal enterprise. He escapes Campbell’s men unscathed and returns home, but Rich and Sharnie don’t. While Sharnie turns out to be OK, Rich is resentful of Marshall leaving him behind.
Meanwhile, Sandra pulls every string she can to get control of Marianne, including tempting Nolan and Emily herself with lucrative job offers, while still using Campbell to prepare another, shadier plan. But at the end of the penultimate episode, Graham has done his best to clean up his act, and Marshall is licking his wounds back at home — before a terrible tragedy strikes the family.
It’s no secret that Marshall doesn’t approve of Lachie, but the young lovers had broken up after some meddling from Lachie’s mom, Sandra. When Lachie heads to Marianne to try to win Susie back, he and Marshall get into a fistfight. Susie tries to break up their scuffle, but a bull charges directly at the three of them and bores into Susie, killing her instantly. Marshall blames himself for her death, but Lachie blames both himself and his mother, who got into his head about the relationship. In an attempt to make amends and help save the place Susie loved more than anything, he goes to Emily and shares his mother’s secret plan for the station.
The mining billionaire convinces Nolan to let her build a port on the coastline, and has Campbell blow up the “sacred place” –– an area on Marianne that has been holy to the Indigenous people for millions of years –– in order to build a road that leads to some old gold mines.
But it’s not the gold mine she’s after — she wants the infrastructure. She’s hoping to enrich uranium and use the old mine to bury the radioactive waste. Just the suggestion of radiation on Marianne means no one will even consider buying their cattle. “My mom wants the Lawsons gone, and she’s willing to poison the land to do it,” Lachie admits.
Unfortunately, the Lawsons and the Indigenous community get to the sacred place too late to save it — Campbell blows it up. “Oh, my poor country,” cries Uncle Bryce in his native Warlpiri language as the sacred place crumbles.
During Marshall’s adventures, he and Sharnie got separated from Rich while on the run from Campbell’s guys. Rich grew jealous of their connection — and blossoming romance — and tracks Marshall down on Marianne to enact revenge. He kidnaps the Lawson grandson and brings him to the family’s house. Colin, on his own quest to stop the sacred place from being destroyed, walks in on the situation and Rich attacks him, tying him up next to his grandson. In exchange for their lives, Colin tells Rich where to find the key to the safe and offers him the cash and valuables inside. That’s not enough — Rich wants what’s in the second, smaller safe, too. After Marshall is forced to open the smaller one as well, he gives his grandfather a knowing look and slams it shut. He tells Rich he’ll have to kill them before they give up its contents, and charges him to take him down. Sharnie arrives to break up their scuffle and free both men — and Colin shoots Rich dead.
It turns out that Daniel wasn’t necessarily the golden boy Colin had always held him up to be. Daniel had planned to make a deal with Sandra for control of Marianne, and Emily was in on it. But in a fight between the two coconspirators, Emily shot at Daniel to send a message that she wasn’t to be messed with. She meant to merely threaten him, but the shot took down his horse, leaving him stranded him in the wilderness where he was attacked and then killed by wild dogs.
In the last moments of the finale, Colin hands Emily and Graham the keys to the big house. Does that mean they’ve won the succession war? Perhaps — until the mysterious Elton walks up with Daniel’s horse and drops two bullets into Colin’s hand. Does Colin know what this means? And will it change anything? Only a close-up shot of Anna Torv’s face holds the truth.
