Stan’s longest running Original Series, Bump, has been an audience favourite since it first released in 2021, and it recently returned for its fifth and final season.
For the past four years, audiences have gone through many highs and lows with the Chalmers-Davis family as they’ve tackled numerous life challenges, from teenage pregnancy, young love, changing family dynamics, to a shocking cancer diagnosis – and much more in-between. Through all these challenges, Bump has managed to explore these themes with humour and heart, cementing itself as a must-watch Australian series.
Ahead of the premiere of the final season, Screen NSW caught up with star of the show, Nathalie Morris, to discuss what audiences can expect from season five, what it’s been like growing up with Oly over the years, as well as stepping in to the writers’ room and making her writing debut this season.
[Season 4 Spoiler!] The final episode of Bump season four left us on a bit of a cliffhanger – Oly lost her job and found out she was pregnant with her second baby, and we found out Angie’s cancer had returned. What can audiences expect from the fifth and final season?
Nathalie Morris: Because we knew that it was going to be the final season, we were able to really think about how we wanted to close the series for audiences. And it does pack a bit of a punch this season!
We are exploring themes that are a little bit deeper and we're taking risks. I think you never want a show to kind of just bumble along and we really wanted to be bold and daring and explore some quite impactful themes but in ways that are very subversive, comical and surprising.
So, audiences can expect to laugh a lot, because that’s what we aim to do every season, and cry and think about things quite deeply and in a way that they haven't thought about them before. It’s amazing – there’s lots of heart, that's for sure.
Bump is Stan’s longest-running local scripted series, which is a testament to the entire cast and crew. Why do you think it has resonated so strongly with audiences both here and overseas?
I think Bump is quite unique in that it is a feel-good show with a range of diverse characters so, a lot of different people have a way into the show. It's heartfelt, genuine, earnest and sincere. But it also doesn't take itself too seriously when it explores life in Australia and families and love and death and friendship and masculinity and motherhood. It just explores everything. It's exploring South American culture and bringing two families together of different cultures, it's exploring all ages. It's such an expansive show with so much heart and so much humour. It also isn't afraid to go deep and to be sincere. There is definitely something for everyone, and we're not afraid to take risks and be bold.
Claudia Karvan (series producer and star) and Kelsey Monroe (creator, producer and writer), and John and Dan Edwards (producers) from Roadshow Rough Diamond, they really know what they're doing. They've made incredible long running shows before, so we were in safe hands. The actors that have come on, like Paula Garcia, Angus Sampson and Claudia Karvan, it's just such a diverse cast and we're all bringing a very different skill set. There's some of the cast that are bringing performances that are a lot more grounded in heart and then there are actors that come in and they're comedians and improvisers.
We also had such a strong beginning for the series. I feel like shows that do well start with something quite bold. And Bump definitely did that in the first episode. As a viewer you’re like “whoa, OK, we've landed in something here!” Oly as a character from season one was also so specific, and I don't think we see a lot of characters like that on screen. Like she's such a weirdo - in a beautiful way - and she's a very multidimensional character so you are immediately drawn in by her.
Audiences have been with the Chalmers-Davis family for five seasons now and we’ve watched Oly tackle motherhood and adulthood over the years. How has that been developing the character of Oly over the years, and the experience watching the family grow and change?
It's been unique. It’s been a great experience to be with a character over four years of my life and seven years of her life, and to try to hold on to her nature - the things that we love about her and that draws audiences to her. I think audiences are drawn to her determination, her stubbornness and the way that she's so fixated on the thing that she wants to achieve and the way that she's so unapologetic. I think that's one of the main differences between us - I'm much more apologetic as a person than her.
It's been really interesting to try to hold on to those qualities that she had as a 16-year-old and then play her over seven years of her life, and she has matured because we do grow out of who we are at 16, but I haven't wanted to soften her too much or lose her core nature and who she is. It's been an interesting process as I mature over four years and become a little bit more open as a person, a bit softer around the edges, and I can see more sides of a situation as I get older. I've kind of wanted to give that to Oly, and have her expand and grow, but not lose her real stubbornness or determination or unapologetic nature.
In season one, her whole thing was that she was so controlled, and she was presented with so much chaos. The struggle for her throughout the five seasons is that she's just trying to keep a grip on things but everything around her is so chaotic. She has become better at handling the chaos as the series has gone on. It's been interesting to track a character through so many intense life changes but hold on to their essence.
We also must mention Santi – played by Carlos Sanson Jnr. What has it been like for the two of you growing up together on screen as Santi and Oly? What has it been like for you both personally watching the show explode and audiences fall in love with you both?
From day one Carlos and I had such a beautiful working relationship. From the third or fourth week of the shoot of season one, we would call each other after we wrapped and be over-analysing all the scenes that we'd shot, or beating ourselves up for takes that we didn't get and thinking about the scenes for the next day. We were equally invested in our characters and their relationship, in Jacinda, our careers and the whole show right from the start.
I think that we come from quite similar places helped as well. We were at quite similar stages in our career and we’d both worked overseas but never in Australia, so it was a big deal for both of us to land the roles. We really connected over our work ethic and over our love for these characters. And that really never went away across the five seasons. I think that's the thing that audiences feel when they watch the show - our dedication to the show and our dedication to each other as artists. We were really a team, and I think that translates as the team that Oly and Santi are as a couple and as parents on the show. We were also really dedicated to Ava Cannon (who played Jacinda). We both have such a big love for Ava, and I think that really comes across on screen too.
For me, and hopefully for audiences, the glue that's held Bump together has been the care that Carlos and I both had for Oly and Santi, and for Ava.
There are so many iconic and very ‘Sydney’ locations in Bump. What were some of your favourite things about shooting in Sydney? Any favourite locations?
I moved to Sydney for the show, so I was new to it. It was quite a beautiful way to see Sydney, through filming.
I really did love shooting at the Chalmers-Davis House, it felt like the heart and soul of the show. There has been so much evolution within the house, and it's changed over the series - in season one, the upstairs bedroom was Angie (Claudia Karvan) and Dom's (Angus Sampson) main location, and I was always in that second bedroom that then became Jacinda's (Ava Cannon) room, and Santi (Carlos Sanson Jnr) and I were in that upstairs room. At one point Vince (Ioane Sa’ula) lived in the house and in the early seasons, Oly and Reema (Safia Arain) were spending time there - it just feels like there's been so much evolution within that house and so many memories. We just felt so comfortable there and by the third season we'd shot in every corner of that house, and it really does feel like a home.
I remember the last day of shooting in the house, Carlos and I went around with a camera, and we were filming all the different rooms and thinking about all the scenes that we've shot in those different rooms – there have been so many memories.
We’ve seen you on screen as Oly through the series, but this season you make your writing debut in episode 5 “Gemini Sun”. Can you tell us a bit about what motivated you to enter the writers’ room and what the experience has taught you?
It came about organically. In the lead up to season three, Claudia started asking us if we had any ideas for our characters or for the show, and to let the writers know as they went into the writers’ rooms. So, we'd always be pitching ideas and chatting with the writers, in a casual way. Then when we were in season four Claudia asked the same question, and Christian Byers (who plays Bowie) and I had an idea for an Oly and Bowie storyline idea for season five. Claudia was like just write it - just write the idea and if we like it, we can give you a storyline credit. But the most important thing is to just write it.
I was really excited by this Oly and Bowie idea and so we went away and started brainstorming it. But when I went to write it, it was bit difficult but then another idea just sort of came to me and it was so easy. So, I started writing this script that was more of an Oly and Santi storyline, with other characters involved and contained, but it just came really easily. And Christian was such an amazing person to bounce off during that time and read over my drafts, ask me questions and offered me notes.
I then sent a draft to Rebecca O'Brien, who had directed on the last few seasons of Bump, and she gave her thoughts and notes, and then I sent it to Jeff Bennett, who was the setup director on the first four seasons of Bump, and he gave his thoughts and asked his questions and gave notes. And then finally I called Claudia was like, ‘hey, I've completed a full spec script for Bump season five. I'm on like the third or fourth draft and can I just send it to you to read?’ I had no expectation when I sent it off. I was interested in getting her notes as a producer – I was curious to hear what she thought of my writing.
She read it within a day or two and called me and asked if could get dinner. She was just so surprised that I'd gone away and written this whole script, and I think quite moved and impressed by that - and she really liked the script! So, she said I should do a day in the writers’ room on season five. And after that day, she asked if I wanted to come back the next day – and then I was in there quite a few times.
The following month she told me that her and Kelsey were pitching that I would co-write an episode with Shanti Gudgeon. So, then I was in the writers’ room two or three times a week for the next couple months. It was such an incredible experience and working with Shanti was amazing - she had so much trust in me, and she was so easy to work with that whole process just felt like such a breeze.
Being in the writers’ room ended up becoming one of my favourite memories of Bump. Being in the room with Nick Coyle, Kelsey, Claudia and Shanti and the whole team. It was so beautiful to do four seasons of Bump and then to really see what the show is like from that perspective. To see how much thought and heart those writers put into that room and how much of their own personal experiences and stories and reflections go into the scripts.
It's funny because I feel like after knowing those writers so well after that couple of months of being in that room, when I read their scripts, I can just hear their voice so clearly in the work. I feel like I've had the full Bump experience now - seeing that pre-production, seeing what it's like in production and then in post.
I say this all the time, it feels like I get the same thing from being in a writers’ room as I get from acting, because you're talking about characters, you're talking about story, you're collaborating, you're being creative, you're playing - it really is kind of the best job in the world, I think. It was just such a beautiful way to end the show, and I just loved being in the writers’ room, which I didn't expect to love as much as I did.
What’s next for you?
I've just wrapped on the third season of The Twelve, so I spent three months shooting that. You'll definitely see me in a very different light to Oly in that! I’m a very, very different character, which was cool after doing five seasons of Oly. It was really great to just shake her off completely - completely change my look and play such a different character.
In 2025, I'm hoping to be in more writers' rooms after that experience on Bump. After a quite a full year of acting, I'm kind of ready for some writing in 2025. I'm also back to auditioning and back to reading scripts and hopefully having a bit more space to write my own stuff as well.
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Watch Bump Seasons 1 – 5 on Stan now here.
Image: Bowie Chalmers-Davis (Christian Byers), Dom Chalmers (Angus Sampson), Santi Hernandez (Carlos Sanson Jnr) and Oly Chalmers-Davis (Nathalie Morris) in courtyard in Bump Season 5. Credit: John Platt. Supplied by Stan.