If you’ve been paying any attention to prestige TV over the last couple of years, you’ve definitely seen Odessa Young. You might not have known her name at the time, but you probably walked away from the screen thinking, Who was that? There’s this specific, raw energy she brings to every role. It’s not just "acting." It’s more like she’s vibrating at a different frequency than everyone else in the frame. Whether she’s playing a pregnant survivor in a post-apocalyptic wasteland or a grieving daughter caught in a true-crime nightmare, she has this knack for making everything feel incredibly high-stakes.
Honestly, the list of tv shows with odessa young is a masterclass in how to build a career by picking projects that actually matter. She doesn’t do "boring." She doesn’t do fluff. Let's get into the stuff you actually need to see if you want to understand why people are calling her one of the most exciting actors of the 2020s.
The Stand (2020): Frannie Goldsmith and the End of the World
You can’t talk about Odessa Young’s television career without starting with the massive, 9-episode adaptation of Stephen King’s The Stand. If you grew up watching the 1994 version with Molly Ringwald, throw those expectations out the window.
Young plays Frannie Goldsmith. In the book, Frannie is the heart of the story—the moral compass. In the 2020 miniseries, Young gives her a bit more grit. She’s pregnant, her father just died, and the entire world has basically melted down thanks to "Captain Trips." Most actors would play that as purely tragic. Young plays it as someone who is just trying to survive the next ten minutes without losing her mind.
The chemistry she had with Owen Teague (who played the creepy, obsessed Harold Lauder) was genuinely unsettling. Every time they were on screen together, you could feel the tension. It wasn’t just about the plot; it was about the small, weird glances and the way she clearly felt "off" about him but couldn't quite place why.
Fun Fact: Stephen King actually wrote a brand-new "coda" or final episode for this version specifically to give Frannie a more active role in the ending. Young carried that finale basically on her own.
The Staircase (2022): Turning Martha Ratliff Into a Real Person
If you’re a true crime junkie, you already know the story of Michael Peterson. HBO Max decided to dramatize it in 2022 with The Staircase, and the cast was ridiculous: Colin Firth, Toni Collette, Sophie Turner.
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Young played Martha Ratliff, one of the adopted daughters. This was a tricky role because Martha is a real person. You aren't just playing a character; you’re playing someone’s actual trauma. Young has talked about how "strange" it felt to be part of the canon of a story about real death.
She and Sophie Turner (who played her sister, Margaret) nailed that weird, claustrophobic bond that happens in families under siege. They weren't just background characters. They were the emotional collateral damage of the trial. Young managed to portray that specific kind of "lostness" that comes when your whole world is being dissected by a documentary crew.
The Early Days: Tricky Business and Wonderland
Long before she was a household name in the US, Odessa was a staple of Australian TV. She started young. Like, 11-years-old young.
Her first real gig was in a show called My Place in 2009. It’s a historical series for kids where each episode looks at a different decade in the same house. It’s very "Australian School Curriculum," but it’s where she caught the bug.
By the time she was 14, she was a series regular on Tricky Business (2012) playing Emma Christie. It was a drama about a family-run debt collection business. Weird premise? Maybe. But it gave her the reps she needed.
Then came Wonderland (2013-2015). She played Lucy Wallace for a few episodes. If you go back and watch these now, you can see the talent is there, but she’s still figuring out how to use it. She once described her early career as being "buffeted through by fortunate tides." Basically, she felt like she was running on "pure, white hot energy" without knowing how to control it yet.
Current and Upcoming Projects (2025-2026)
If you think she's slowing down, you haven't been looking at the trades. Odessa Young is currently booked solid.
- The Narrow Road to the Deep North: This is a big one. It’s a miniseries based on the Richard Flanagan novel, directed by Justin Kurzel. She plays Amy Mulvaney. It’s a wartime epic about the Burma Railway, and if her previous work is any indication, it’s going to be devastating.
- Black Rabbit: She’s starring alongside Jason Bateman and Jude Law in this Netflix miniseries. It’s a drama about two brothers who get pulled back into a dangerous underworld. Young plays a character named Gen.
- Seven Sisters: There are whispers about her being part of this FX project on Hulu, though details are still pretty tight.
Why She’s Different From Other "It Girls"
There is a trend in Hollywood right now where everyone feels very... manicured. Everyone looks like they spent six hours in hair and makeup to look like they just woke up.
Odessa Young doesn’t do that.
She has this "old soul" quality that directors like Eva Husson (who directed her in Mothering Sunday) constantly mention. She’s comfortable with silence. She’s comfortable looking "ugly" on camera if that’s what the scene needs.
In The Staircase, she didn’t try to out-act Colin Firth. She just existed in the room with him. That takes a level of confidence most actors don’t hit until they’re in their 40s. She’s also a bit of a period piece chameleon. She’s done the 1880s, the 1920s, the 1940s, the 80s, and the 90s. She’s joked about how she enjoys doing the accents because it helps her "wrap her mouth around the sounds" of a different era.
What to Watch First
If you’re new to her work, don't just jump into everything at once. Start here:
- For the Drama: The Staircase. It’s her most grounded performance.
- For the Spectacle: The Stand. Even if you don't love the show, her performance is the highlight.
- For the "Art": Look for her web series High Life (2017). She plays a girl named Genevieve dealing with bipolar disorder. It’s short, punchy, and won a ton of awards for a reason.
Final Thoughts on Her Career Trajectory
Odessa Young is one of those actors who is clearly in it for the long haul. She famously dropped out of high school to move to LA the day after she turned 18. That’s a massive gamble. But she spent a year "sitting on her arse" doing nothing before the roles started coming.
That patience has paid off. She’s not just "the girl from that one show." She’s becoming a name that signals quality. If her name is on the call sheet, the show is probably worth your time.
Actionable Next Steps:
Check out the premiere of The Narrow Road to the Deep North on Amazon Prime Video later this year. If you want to see her range before that hits, stream The Staircase on Max to see how she holds her own against Oscar winners. For a deeper look at her indie roots, find a copy of her breakout film The Daughter—it’s the performance that made the industry realize she was the real deal.