For it’s fall season, APTN is unveiling programming that emphasizes authentic Northern living. While new documentary series like Go North! celebrate traditional Inuit cultural practices and their adaptation across the changing Arctic, award-winning comedy North of North is back for a highly anticipated second season.
“This isn’t content made about the North – this is the North telling its own stories,” said Adam Garnet Jones, APTN’s director of TV content and special events.
The international success of North of North, commissioned jointly by APTN, CBC and Netflix, demonstrates the wide appeal of Inuit-led content. The streaming platform’s first Canadian original series hit the Top 10 in 33 countries, earned a 100% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes, and won nine Canadian Screen Awards this year.
Filming primarily in Iqaluit, capacity-building has been built into the production’s budget from its beginning, including the training of Nunavut locals for acting, crew and support roles. The territory’s first production studio opened in time for season two, spearheaded by series creators Alethea Arnaquq-Baril and Stacey Aglok MacDonald, who said the show has “primed Iqaluit for production.”
The success of the first season made it easier to recruit extras and find restaurants to feed the 120-member cast and crew. While the inaugural season was filmed in springtime, this season’s six-week shoot started in mid-February. The show’s lead Anna Lambe said “it was minus-50 for four weeks straight.”
Set in the fictional village of Ice Cove, Lambe plays Siaja, a modern Inuk woman who leaves her husband, taking her young daughter to move in with mother Neevee, finding work at the local community centre. Lambe told the Nation that the second season builds on this initial “world-building”, exploring issues like colonial trauma, water contamination and the housing crisis.
“The housing crisis comes up again in season two, which Siaja tries to navigate with her best friend Millie,” said Lambe. “The people aren’t defined by the challenges living up North but how they navigate that, to be resourceful, lean on your community and get minds together to tackle these issues.”
Guest stars this season include Canadian actor Bruce McCulloch as Military Mitch and Inuk singer Elisapie debuting a new song. Lambe enjoyed taking Siaja between melodrama and “clownlike comedy” as her character plans an elaborate winter ball, uncovers a startling family secret and moves on with her love life.
“We get to new places with her romantically that I would love to explore a little more,” shared Lambe. “People excited for the romance aspect of North of North can get ready for some yearning and unexpected twists and turns.”
The Iqaluit-raised actor got her start in The Grizzlies, the 2018 film co-produced by Aglok MacDonald and Arnaquq-Baril. After working alongside Jodie Foster in HBO’s True Detective and appearing in two major Hollywood films coming out soon, Lambe said she hasn’t minded drawing more attention since returning to her hometown for season two.
“The most fulfilling part of my career is when young people feel like this is possible for them,” Lambe said. “Every next step of my career is such a joyful surprise for me because I never thought I’d make it this far. To have people look at me with reverence and admiration like I look at Stacey and Alethea is a beautiful thing to share.”
In a speech to graduates at her former high school in June 2025, Lambe urged youth to take the risk of pursuing their passions. She feels that increasing pressures on young people doesn’t leave enough room for making mistakes and learning.
“There’s so much life that happens after you make a bad decision,” asserted Lambe. “Inuit want to rise together – you have a community that’s cheering for you whether you realize it or not.”
As North of North brings global attention to Inuit culture, APTN’s new six-part docuseries Go North is delves deeper into real-life stories of “remarkable people using traditional and modern approaches to keep culture, knowledge and connection alive.” Each episode highlights different sides of traditional travel and Indigenous resilience.
The series is narrated by Shina Novalinga, who has amassed over four million TikTok followers and been named to Time magazine’s 100 Creators List by sharing videos about throat singing, Tunniit (face tattoos) and other Inuit culture. She was immediately attracted by the production’s authenticity and beauty.
“It’s so important to create that bridge between different cultures around the world,” said Novalinga. “Having that openness to learn about each other is important. I never knew starting social media would open doors like this. I feel eternally grateful.”
Novalinga enjoyed her first narration experience despite challenges learning the pronunciations of unfamiliar words. With the series available in Inuktitut, her mother also served as a narrator.
The show’s first episode features Terry Uyarak going on a walrus hunt in Igloolik. The shoot at the end of July coincided with the season for making fermented walrus (igunaq), a delicacy in the region made by sewing its meat and fat into the animal’s own skin and burying it in the permafrost.
“The people here in Igloolik have been known to be walrus people for many generations,” explained Uyarak. “When we take them out, our Elders will say if it’s a good batch; we’ll eat from there for the whole winter. If not, we’ll give it to our dog team who also really love it.”
Uyarak discussed how the skin must be punctured so air doesn’t penetrate. The arrival of migratory birds determines the length of freezing. Hunting walrus on moving ice in the winter presents additional challenges, requiring many men to hoist the immense animals.
“With one inch leather, you have to know how to sharpen knives,” Uyarak noted. “They dip the ribs in the ocean to eat it afterwards with that sea salt in it. It’s something we love.”
Having travelled the world as an actor and juggler with Inuit circus troupe ARTCIRQ and as a musician (a new song with Beatrice Deer is coming soon), Uyarak has become an ambassador for the Far North. Future episodes will feature dogsleds and kayaking.
“We hunt for the bigger family, especially the Elders who don’t have a hunting family,” said Uyarak. “Come visit us and we’ll give you a good time. We have northern lights and walrus, sea animals everywhere and Arctic char if people want to come fish.”