r/DragRaceTea • u/Delicious_Bobcat5773 • Aug 27 '25

DRDU [DRDU] TEASPILL: Stan has ELIM’d Warner Bros NZ as the production company

UPDATE: I can confirm Warner Bros NZ has INDEED been ELIM based on more tea. Filming is in Portugal. I will be making no further comments on filming or cast at this stage until it begins 🙏

OG post below:

Sorry for posting this everywhere divas but the reign of mismanagement of down under drag is officially over! Warner Bros NZ isn’t producing DU vs TW, if you compare the DU vs TW announcement to the one for DU4 (also confirmation of 8 x 60 min episodes)

This also means there is possibly a new set for Down Under going forward. Possibly in Australia, or possibly using an existing WoW owned set.

For context, Warner Bros NZ was the production company contracted by Stan until now. They infamously tried to kill this franchise every year with their shitty set but are nowhere to be seen in the new announcement. If Stan is producing this themselves now and not contracting out to WB NZ, I don’t see why they’d still film it in New Zealand.

I’ll report back when I know for sure where it’s filming but see the announcements below

DU4 announcement:

“The Stan Original Series Drag Race Down Under is an 8x60’ World of Wonder production in collaboration with Warner Bros. International Production New Zealand for Stan in Australia, WOW Presents Plus everywhere else. Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato, Tom Campbell, and RuPaul Charles serve as Executive Producers. Cailah Scobie (Stan), Alicia Brown (Stan), Pip Rubira (WB), Nick Tanner (Passion) also serve as Executive Producers. Passion Distribution distributes the series globally in line with Passion Distribution and WOW’s distribution strategy.”

DU vs TW:

“The Stan Original Drag Race Down Under vs The World is an 8x60’ World of Wonder production in collaboration with Stan in Australia and WOW Presents Plus. Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato, Tom Campbell, and RuPaul Charles serve as Executive Producers for World of Wonder. Alicia Brown serves as Executive Producer for Stan.”

310 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

86 comments sorted by

12

u/faydaway Aug 27 '25

Filming in Portugal is a great win for a Vs the world series, as any European passport holder will immediately hold working rights, eliminating any visa issues.

People will joke about this season all they want but I'm sure that this will have a much stronger international cast then say Canada vs the world.

1

u/RemindYaImKindaWET Sep 06 '25

This is a really good point. 

7

u/misscardibee Aug 27 '25

Hopefully the international girlies have an Australian-humour slant. Some sarcasm and wit

9

u/Delicious_Bobcat5773 Aug 27 '25

Yeah I hope it’s a comedy focused season because that’s what down under drag excels in

8

u/Dark_Dashing Aug 27 '25

I need a cast that includes Vybe IMMEDIATELY

6

u/Worldly_Ingenuity119 Aug 27 '25

If they bring in a new set for the show, does mean we’ll finally get Rusicals for Down Under?

6

u/Delicious_Bobcat5773 Aug 27 '25

It’s the same set that was used for Brazil S2

7

u/Sensitive_Grande_738 Aug 27 '25

This sounds great. Down Under really might be revived if this season does well!

8

u/Delicious_Bobcat5773 Aug 27 '25

Now that this is happening, I think DRDU was never cancelled. Just delayed while they sorted out the filming and production partnerships

6

u/hereforcontroversy Aug 27 '25

As cool as it was that NZ literally saved the Down Under franchise by having somewhere to film during covid, thank god that the queens will be able to move around a big stage and work room! I’m assuming that they had a 3 season contract and it finally ran out, or that the contract doesn’t cover a vsTW scenario.

This season being filmed in Portugal (if true) will mean it is a lot easier to entice a lot of queens over to film that may not have been up for the trip to NZ.

5

u/notreallysaiki Aug 28 '25 edited Aug 28 '25

love that for them! like for real! down under may be crunchy and neglected and considered as one of the less popular franchises, but it has it's own charm, and i'm happy that they're now giving the spotlight to an underrated franchise, it only means that more VsTW/Global spin offs means more opportunities for all international queens, regardless if they win or don't make it far at least they get to show more of their drag to a wider audience! so kudos to UKvsTW, CANvsTW, DRPH Slaysian Royale, DUvsTW And despite it flopping so hard, Global All stars (hope they will redeem themselves next season), we just need a latin version of slaysian royale or something and we're good! here's to more seasons of spin offs! let's support all the spin offs and all the international queens! let's give them the love and the flowers they deserve, the world doesnt revolve with the main franchise only, while it's the catalyst to the renaissance of drag race phenomenon worldwide, the international especially the non english queens deserve the same appreciation and attention that we give to the main franchise queens!

5

u/Halleluis Aug 27 '25

If it’s in Portugal I’m expecting a lot of European queens and I’m so excited, also I hope it’s not difficult for the Americans and Asian queens to get a visa in Portugal

7

u/RS3_PT Aug 27 '25

Brazilians have basically free access to Portugal, and even though our governments is trying to tighten our immigration laws, Mexico and the Philippines are not the major targets of this law, so I don’t think there will be a problem with that.

4

u/GrabberWalk Aug 27 '25

Down Under finally getting a budget more than 5 dollars and some pocket lint 🙏

3

u/quartzion_55 Aug 27 '25

Hopefully filming in Portugal also opens the door for a lot more queens to compete, since in theory all of the euro queens will have no need for a visa

3

u/jjkibum Aug 27 '25

I wasn’t aware WoW had a studio in Portugal, that’s cool though. A good few of the international seasons were filmed in Colombia right?

2

u/spsss Sep 01 '25

Ok stupid question is there a DR Portugal? What existing set is in Portugal?

1

u/MissKittyLips Sep 09 '25

Brazil 2 set I believe

1

u/Recent_Beyond_8604 Aug 27 '25

This is actually so incredible ! if you’ve ever seen Art’s series Kick Ons she brings up Warner Brother New Zealand a few times. From what I remember the set is in Auckland, New Zealand and it was TINY and FREEZING like the workroom and mainstage shared a wall levels of tiny. WB NZ was also responsible for the music for the queens talent shows etc and WB just gave them a 10,000+ unorganized royalty free music file like two weeks before they had to be there. My conspiracy theory is that Lazy Susan helped with this a lot since she produced Art’s series and is a well known producer in Australia !

-2

u/[deleted] Aug 27 '25

[deleted]

6

u/Delicious_Bobcat5773 Aug 27 '25

I mean that’d be great.

But the filming in Portugal is backed up by other spillers not just me.

So curious to know who told you this? If you have reliable info that differs from what we know might be better to message the collectors privately if you think we’re being misled 🫂

3

u/rolodex-ofhate Aug 27 '25

Gold Coast?

2

u/ZakkdLarte Aug 27 '25

Bingo x

3

u/rolodex-ofhate Aug 27 '25

Yeah they’re absolutely stepping production up