After more than a decade in development, the Australian horror-comedy series Gnomes has finally arrived on Stan, bringing with it murderous lawn ornaments, a fictional small-town festival gone catastrophically wrong, and a production team that freely admits the show is unlike anything Australia has attempted before.

The series is set in the fictional town of Nompton, where the local police department scrambles to protect residents after an ancient "gnome queen", last activated during World War II, awakens every garden ornament in town just as the community's inaugural "Gnome-a-Palooza" festival kicks off. For added flavour, the show opens with an eyepatch-wearing Nazi villain who seeks world domination but draws a firm moral line at slut-shaming.

A Concept a Decade in the Making

The seed of the idea was planted back in 2016, when Joel Cohn first developed the concept as a web series alongside writer Tegan Higginbotham, who also appears on screen in the finished show. The journey from that original spark to a full series on a major streaming platform has taken well over ten years.

Higginbotham, who co-wrote the scripts with her husband Paul Verhoeven, says the development period stretched across a notably crowded moment in pop culture. "When we were initially developing it, Stranger Things had just had its moment," she explained, noting the show shares some surface-level DNA with that series as another '80s-influenced supernatural small-town story. To avoid producing what she called "a photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy", she deliberately avoided watching Stranger Things during the development phase.

Producer Richard Kelly acknowledged the scale of the ambition involved. "Gnomes is a big swing," he said. "You know, 'killer garden gnomes' is a fun pitch, and everyone goes, 'Yeah, that's fantastic' ... But it's an ambitious project. It's the kind of project that Australia doesn't normally make."

The Cast on Comedy, Chaos and Keeping a Straight Face

Star Megan Smart, known for her roles in Class of 07 and Black Snow, plays straight-laced senior constable Ellie McKay opposite her character's former flame Arnold Kipps, portrayed by British actor Asa Butterfield of Sex Education. Smart says it is one of the most unusual productions she has been part of.

"It is definitely one of the craziest shows I've worked on," she said. "But it's good crazy. When I first read the scripts, I was laughing out loud. I thought it was so funny, and so unlike anything we've done in Australia."

Smart prepared for the role by watching the 2007 British cop comedy Hot Fuzz, written by Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg, on the flight from London to Melbourne immediately after being cast. The series has been billed as "Hot Fuzz meets Gremlins", and Smart says the directors worked hard to ensure the entire ensemble was operating in the same comedic register.

Keeping a straight face on set, however, proved easier said than done. "I think I was the worst at breaking," she admitted. "I'm so bad at keeping a straight face, and it was such a funny shoot. There were times when I had to leave the scene because I was laughing so hard and ruining it."

Puppets, Practical Effects and an Analogue Aesthetic

When it came to bringing the gnomes themselves to life, the production leaned heavily into practical techniques inspired by Gremlins, from the sounds the creatures make to the way they were physically constructed. Any gnome that comes into close contact with a cast member on screen is an actual puppet, operated by a dedicated on-set puppetry unit.

"We always knew that we wanted the show to have that kind of analogue feel," Kelly said.

The series was filmed at Melbourne Showgrounds, with comedian Luke McGregor appearing in a memorable supporting role as the owner of a local DVD store. And for those wondering about the giant Queen Elizabeth II gnome spotted on set: Kelly confirmed she does not kill anyone, out of respect.

Gnomes is streaming now on Stan.