The Dead Lands – a ground-breaking new TV show featuring a 100-percent Māori and Pasifika cast – debuts to a massive international TV audience tonight.

The series is a supernatural adventure series in a mythical Māori past and a spin-off from Toa Fraser's 2014 film of the same name.

The Dead Lands was co-produced by TVNZ and the American television network AMC. It will air on TVNZ On Demand and Shudder – AMC's streaming service for horror, thriller and the supernatural.

The series is breaking new ground in many ways, says executive producer Matthew Metcalfe.

In addition to the all-Māori and Pasifika cast, about a third of the crew and 17 interns on the show are Māori.

"Every day we had karakia, we always had kai and korero. We worked really hard to do it the Māori way.'

The Dead Lands tells the story of a murdered warrior, Waka Nuku Rau (Te Kohe Tuhaka), who is sent back to the world of the living to redeem his sins. Characters speak predominantly in English, but there is some te reo Māori spoken – without subtitles added.

The AMC network was really supportive of the show's unique cultural elements, Metcalfe says.

"You have this idea that you're dealing with Hollywood and they're going to be some mean overlords … [But] at every stage of the production they were like 'be authentic, be the culture who you're representing, be who you are'."

It's a big deal to have a uniquely Māori show going out to the biggest television market in the world, he says.

'I have no idea whether AMC will tell me the [viewing figures for The Dead Lands] – because the streaming services never do – but from my point of view it's already won."