Hunter Page-Lochard Powers Up As Australia's Most Groundbreaking Superhero

Anyone who has followed a superhero's journey on the page or on the screen knows that while the origin story is necessary and interesting, it's once the hero starts to understand the full extent of their powers and how they can be best used that things start really gathering speed.

Such is the case with the second season of ABC's ground-breaking series Cleverman, which blends together ancient Aboriginal mythology and a dystopian near-future to tell a story that's relevant, insightful and exciting.

The emergence of a superhuman race known as the 'Hairypeople', who've existed in the shadows for thousands of years, leads to an oppressive crackdown by the powers that be, but it also leads to young Koen West, played by Hunter Page-Lochard, inheriting the supernatural powers of the 'Cleverman', an entity with the ability not only to defend the persecuted but bring together warring factions.

The first six-episode season of the series saw Koen initially denying his Cleverman gift before finally embracing it. The new season, premiering 28 Jun, has him exploring just what the gift means to him and his people as the brutal, government-run Containment Authority continues its subjugation of the Hairypeople and their allies.

"It was a beautiful challenge," Page-Lochard, the son of Stephen Page, artistic director of the acclaimed Bangarra Dance Theatre, says of this new direction.

"The beautiful thing about that is it expresses a lot about culture."

"I didn't find Koen hard to portray in the first season but what he was going through was something that many people could be familiar with - he's someone who is self-centred, someone with skeletons in his closet and demons in his history that he doesn't want to face. And then all of a sudden, he steps up to face them.

"In the second season, I knew I was going with Koen having faced all that, so now it's about understanding what he's got and how he uses it. There's a greater definition of his moral compass this season, which I really enjoyed playing - you know, I not only get to indulge my fanboy by doing fight scenes and stuff but my subtext is 'With great power comes great responsibility'? That is awesome! I'm Spider-Man!"

And having established a strong story and a creative purpose with Cleverman's first season, all involved - including series creator Ryan Griffen - had some definite goals for in mind for the new run of six episodes.

"We built such a great foundation of trust in the first season as cast and crew, where we all knew what we had in store in terms of how important this story is and why we were all working," says Page-Lochard. "We had the normal production problems that we faced together but the whole thing was treated with such a great sense of trust and responsibility, just as there's a great sense of trust and responsibility that goes along with being indigenous and expressing our culture and sharing that knowledge. Ryan and the producers and directors and writers have shared that with the cast - there's been a lot of discussion about what's important, and it kind of all is. Each character has enough going on that their own story is equally important - they're each standing on their own rock."

The way Page-Lochard sees it, Cleverman is a vivid illustration of Aboriginal culture, one that expresses a great deal, but it also taps into something universal.

"We get an understanding of what Koen's powers are halfway through the season - we see him using the powers of the Cleverman but we don't yet know what they mean and how they're supposed to be used," he says.

"The beautiful thing about that is it expresses a lot about culture - what's within our Aboriginal culture, sure, but it's also something that's within the world's culture, within human identity. It's a coming of age, a finding of yourself, and a use of your gifts in a way that's good for the world around you but also good for your own self, your own spirit.

"But we're also only just scratching the surface, and there's so much in our culture that we're not even allowed to express, which is something that's in a lot of cultures - deeper stories, deeper aspects of folklore. It's not because you're trying to hide something, it's because it's not for them. It's about keeping things sacred to yourself and allowing yourself to express them in a way that you want to. So being able to express it full-stop is amazing. I feel like the right people saw season one of Cleverman and appreciated it, and now with season two I feel like more people will be boarding that train."

Cleverman returns 9.30pm, 29 Jun on ABC.