Nêrens, Noord-Kaap (Nowhere, Northern Cape) is a South African, Afrikaans-language television drama series based on the stage play of the same name by Nico Scheepers which revolves around three estranged brothers who find their way back to the family farm where secrets, heartbreak and the truth surrounding their mother's death threaten the path to redemption.
Lourens Adendorff, farmer and patriarch of this dry kingdom, barely leaves the house anymore – the curtains of his sandstone castle always drawn.
His Dutch wife, Katja, has been dead nearly 20 years and all three of his sons have abandoned him.
Frans, the eldest, still runs the farm but barely speaks a word to his father.
Ronnie, the middle child, is divorced in Cape Town and trying to raise his son from a distance.
And Andries, the youngest, their father's favourite, has shunned them all and has been backpacking around the world for the last couple of years.
The family is in pieces, and the farm is stuck, stagnating in time and place.
As the series begins, the brothers are back on the family farm, Nêrens, for a family gathering. It is obvious from the start that they are not cut from the same cloth.
Their father, Lourens; and Maggie, the housekeeper who is like a second mother to them; try to keep the family together, but it is as if they each pull in their own direction.
Then there is Maggie's son, Jan-Jan, a childhood friend of the brothers who might just know them better than they know themselves.
As in the original play, De Klerk Oelofse, Albert Pretorius and Geon Nel portray the roles of the three Adendorff sons, Andries, Ronnie and Frans.
Frank Opperman stars as their father, Lourens.
Dean Balie appears as Jan-Jan (the foreman on the farm) and Ilse Klink plays the role of Maggie, who has an integral role in the raising of the three Adendorff boys.
Others in the cast include Shana Mans as the neighbour's daughter Lorrie; Marion Holm as Lourens' sister Ans; Aletta Bezuidenhout as Olivia, Ronnie's snobbish mother-in-law; and Natalie Robbie as Shannon, Ronnie's bride and mother of baby Lourens.
Tinarie van Wyk-Loots, Marion Holm, Gideon Lombard, Ludwig Binge, Patricia Baadjies and Melissa Willering are also part of the cast.
Nêrens, Noord-Kaap is an M-Net Original Production, produced for kykNET by Nagvlug Films and directed by Nico Scheepers and Johan Cronjé.
The producers are Scharl van der Merwe, Zandré Coetzer and Chanél Muller; the executive producers are Amy Jephta and Ephraim Gordon; and the supervising producer for kykNET is Tina Kruger.
Original music is by by Franco Prinsloo.
Background
In 2017, playwright and director Nico Scheepers' play Nêrens, Noord-Kaap made its debut at the Vrystaat Festival in Bloemfontein.
The actors playing the roles of the Adendorff brothers - Geon Nel, Albert Pretorius and De Klerk Oelofse - won the Fiësta Award for the best ensemble in 2018.
De Klerk was nominated as best actor and the play, which was later published in book form, was nominated as the best new Afrikaans play.
In December 2018 kykNET commissioned the play as a 13-part drama series, starring the original cast.
On Wednesday 24 November (the day after the Season 1 finale) kykNET announced that the series had been renewed for Season 2.