Inside the minds of 'Outlaws' creators Phathu & Gwydion

Outlaws, Showmax's new series, premiered on September 6, and the brains behind South Africa's first contemporary Western series — Phathu Makwarela and Gwydion Beynon — did a Q&A about the new show.

The pair worked on productions such as Gqeberha: The Empire, Gomora, The Queen and also created Giyani: Land of Blood, The River and Legacy.

What makes Outlaws a story that needs to be told? 

Phathu: Cattle theft is a massive issue in South Africa. Farming communities are being terrorised daily by cattle thieves, but while it’s something that crops up in news reports from time to time, it’s not something that’s ever been reflected in popular culture. It’s like there’s a war going on that nobody is talking about. It’s such a rich and dramatic backdrop for a story. 

Gwydion: On top of that, so many of our stories on South African television take place in urban areas. We felt rural life is seldom portrayed on screen. Outlaws really takes us to the farms, to the fields, and to the mountains of South Africa and Lesotho. So many South Africans have a connection to these landscapes. We wanted to create a show that celebrates them.

What were the exciting and challenging aspects about the locations? 

Gwydion: When we were on our first research trip to Bergville, we realised how incredible the landscape was. We decided we had no choice — we had to shoot as much of the show in these locations as we possibly could. Any direction you point the camera is beautiful. 

Phathu: Little did we know the challenges we would face! We started shooting the show in KwaZulu-Natal and it rained non-stop, which meant that even getting to some of the locations was difficult. Our brilliant creative producer Mmamitse Thibedi would wake up before dawn to go to the river to make offerings to the water spirits, to ask for clear weather — which sometimes worked. But trying to get our cast and crew into these remote locations after heavy rain was sometimes hectic. Watching the final product, we feel like it was worth all the struggles we faced.

The cast is a mix of fairly new faces, current favourites and industry veterans. What did you look for when selecting the cast? 

Gwydion: We have to give huge credit to our casting director Keneilwe Matidze for assembling our incredible cast. The story is deep — it goes to very real and dark places, and we needed actors who could take us there. It doesn’t matter how great your story is on the page, if your actors can’t bring it to life, it’s never going to work. So we’re incredibly proud of the craft and care that our actors bring to the story.

Phathu: It was important for us that we identified new faces and also paired them with experienced hands. Keneilwe certainly delivered on the brief. The majority of our Sotho actors are from Lesotho, which was hugely important to us, so that they would get the nuances of culture and language right, so that the show would feel truly authentic. 

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