Miles From Nowhere TV Series

Miles From Nowhere is a six-part comedy-drama series written and created by Mohamed Hassan. Set in present-day Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, the 2024 series portrays the everyday experiences of the Muslim diaspora in Aotearoa through the eyes of Said (played by Arlo Green), an aspiring singer-songwriter struggling with direction in life. Forming an unlikely bond with the SIS agent assigned to monitor him, Said grapples with the inherent risk that this relationship holds, the threat to his community from unwanted media attention, and his own complicated friendship and family dynamics at home.

Born in Cairo, Hassan and his family migrated to Aotearoa in 1997 when he was 8 years old. Although not autobiographical, Miles From Nowhere touches on aspects of his upbringing as a Muslim immigrant in Takapuna, his career as a journalist reporting on the impacts of social and security policies on Muslim communities, and his poetry and essay writing on topics such as migration, surveillance and Islamophobia. In an article for The Guardian, he noted that his love of television — in tandem with the awareness that “the stories I was consuming weren’t meant for me, and that my own experience would never be truly reflected” — served as the impetus for a series that would centre on his community. After a conversation with Somali-born, Pōneke Wellington-raised producer Ahmed Osman in 2020, Hassan recalled:

We had both spent our lives waiting to see our own stories come to life, ones that reflected the true colour and madness of our wonderful community. Why weren’t any of the Muslims on TV funny? Where was the mosque politics and the gossip uncles we tried to avoid during Friday prayers? Where were the Muslim students arguing politics while trying to court potential spouses at the campus marriage talks? Where were the converts trying to navigate cultural expectations, the westernised youth sneaking out to parties after prayers and the clumsy government informants hiding in plain sight? If we couldn’t see ourselves represented on TV in the ways we wanted, then maybe we should do something about it.

Hassan formed Homegrown Pictures with Osman and co-writer Aamer Rahman before securing NZ On Air funding for six 22-minute episodes in 2022. The series was produced in partnership with production company Gibson Group and broadcaster Sky. Lead actor Arlo Green, a fan of Hassan’s book How To Be A Bad Muslim, was drawn to the project because of the writer’s involvement, stating, “he’s one of the first people in New Zealand who made me less ashamed to be Arab-Muslim.” The show features a diverse cast of West Asian and South Asian origin, including Roxie Mohebbi and Sherin Darwish of Iranian and Egyptian heritage respectively, as well as Indian New Zealand actors Bala Murali Shingade, Sneha Shetty, Mustaq Missouri and Gemma-Jayde Naidoo. Other cast members include Australian actor and singer Sami Afuni of Egyptian and Jordanian descent; Hanah Tayeb, who emigrated from Algeria to Aotearoa when she was 7 years old; and Maaka Pohatu (Ngāi Tāmanuhiri, Ngāti Apa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa), who plays the Māori-Muslim prayer leader of Said’s mosque.

All six episodes were directed by Iranian New Zealand filmmaker Ghazaleh Gol, whose 2020 series This Is Us commemorated the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks through a range of documentary portraits of Muslim New Zealanders. Gol and the creators have cited Atlanta as a major influence on Miles From Nowhere. Ramy, Man Like Mobeen and Mo — shows on international streaming platforms, where “we are finally seeing real Muslims on our screens” — along with local productions like Pax Assadi’s Raised by Refugees and Roseanne Liang’s Creamerie were also a source of inspiration for Hassan. On her attraction to the project, Gol said, “It’s a wonderful story because it’s about a guy who’s coming of age, late in life, and doesn’t really know what he’s doing. He’s a bit of a slacker, he’s a bit of a stoner…[and] he just happens to be a practising Muslim.”

Praise for Miles From Nowhere highlighted both its specificity and relatability, as well as its utilisation of comedy to confront harmful narratives about the Muslim community. The Spinoff observed its use of “humour to challenge many commonly held Western stereotypes about Islam [and] immigration,” that “while the story is centred in one community, the themes of the show are universal,” and “the writing is full of dry, quiet humour that feels distinctly us.”

Miles From Nowhere premiered at the Red Sea International Film Festival in December 2023, before being released simultaneously on streaming services Sky Go and Neon in February 2024.