Showmax, building on the success of its first African series Spinners and the talent of 2023 SAFTA Best Director winner Donkerbos, is set to premiere its latest Afrikaans series, Trompoppie (Drummie), on December 7, 2023. New episodes will be released every Thursday until February 8, 2024.
In Trompoppie, Luna, a talented gymnast, receives a bursary to attend a prestigious private school that she could never afford. This throws her into the fierce world of an elite group of drum majorettes, known as “trompoppies.” However, when a hazing ritual takes a tragic turn, cheerleaders start to die, and the seemingly perfect façade of the community begins to crumble.
Etienne Fourie, the SAFTA and Silwerskerm-winning writer and director of Stiekyt, Die Windpomp, and Tydelik Terminaal, brings us Trompoppie, the first Showmax Original. Multi-award-winning Homebrew Films, responsible for the 2023 Silwerskerm winner Magda Louw, is producing the series.
Melissa Myburgh, who received a 2023 Silwerskerm Best Actress: Drama nomination for her role in Dinge van ’n Kind, stars as Luna in Trompoppie, while Silwerskerm winner Stian Bam (The Story of Racheltjie de Beer, Donkerbos) plays her widowed father.
The opportunity to work with Fourie was a major draw for Myburgh. “I watched Die Windpomp in 2014, and it’s my entire family’s favorite Afrikaans film,” she says. “It played a part in my decision to pursue Afrikaans films and TV. There’s no one else like him in our industry.”
SAFTA nominee Marion Holm (Suidooster) takes on the role of the indomitable Jill Peterson, an aging soap star who discovers Luna, arranges her bursary, and takes her under her wing. “Audiences will see Marion in a completely new light,” Fourie teases. “Jill is a force of nature.”
Albert Maritz (Alles Malan) plays Jill’s husband, Fred, marking the first time the two acting legends have worked together. Their daughters, Zanne and Elke, are played by Celeste Loots, who skyrocketed into the IMDbPro Top 100 StarMeter in September thanks to her breakthrough role as Kaya in One Piece, and 14-year-old newcomer Luca Human, respectively. Human, the daughter of beloved Afrikaans actress Margit Meyer-Rödenbeck, aka Dowwe Dolla, is already being hailed as “An absolute superstar” by Fourie, who predicts a “blindingly bright” future for her.
The cast also includes SAFTA winner Frank Opperman (G.I.L., Nêrens, Noord-Kaap) and rising star Braeden Buys (Spinners) as detectives, Fleur du Cap winner Daneel van der Walt (Recipes for Love and Murder, Nêrens, Noord-Kaap) as a true-crime novelist, and Armand Aucamp (One Piece, Troukoors) as the trompoppies’ coach. Additionally, Spinners’ breakout star Cantona James, SAFTA nominee Jane de Wet (The Girl From St. Agnes, Griekwastad, Spoorloos), Elzet Nel (Vaselinetjie, Magda Louw), and Zandelle Meyer (Binnelanders) appear as students.
“Trompoppie follows the various drum majorettes in a team aiming to win the national competition, along with all that comes with it: the pressure, the training, school, popularity contests, and rivalry between the girls,” explains Nel, who portrays the trompoppies’ captain. “That’s how it goes when girls compete with each other, especially between the ages of 16 and 18. It’s tough. Trompoppie also delves into how each girl handles the pressure and how far they’re willing to go to succeed. You’re part of a team, but you’re also your own team, so viewers can expect incredible dance routines and unexpected twists.”
Homebrew assembled an equally stellar crew, including SAFTA nominees Sunel Haasbroek (Hans Steek Die Rubicon Oor, Alles Malan) as DOP, Marné van der Burgh (Blood & Water).