This series travels across the world and through time, exploring Māori origins, tracing the journey of the first people to arrive in Aotearoa – taking us from Polynesia through Asia and into Africa.

 

Origins was an idea that Meg Douglas of Scottie Productions has been working on for nearly a decade. Inspired by her father’s own epic journey to uncover and write about the origins of his own iwi, Meg wanted to make a series that would reveal some of his findings and open the door for others to learn more.

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When Meg got Scotty Morrison on board she was certain she had the right person to front the series (they are from the same iwi, Te Arawa). Scotty is a te reo expert steeped in tribal knowledge, and with a hunger to find out more about his and Māori origins.

In 2018 Scottie Productions teamed up with Greenstone TV and TVNZ came on board to support the project. The production started in early 2019. It was a monumental undertaking, with the research team sifting through research papers, historical books, and talking to people all over Aotearoa and the world. The project began shooting in July 2019 and finished in January 2020.