A thrilling new drama has dropped on Netflix and it contains one dangerous sex scene.

Vampires, werewolves, and zombies have all had their moments in the pop-culture spotlight, but now it’s time to drive a stake through their hearts and ask them to politely move along because there’s a new supernatural player in TV town.

The siren.

Stemming from Greek mythology, sirens have long been depicted over the years as dangerous creatures posing as beautiful women who lure sailors to their deaths with the sound of their beautiful voices.

They now also star in the brand new Netflix drama Tidelands, the first Australian original series to be produced by the streaming service.

Tidelands follows Cal McTeer (Charlotte Best), a young woman who has returned home to the small fishing village of Orphelin Bay after spending 10 years in a juvenile detention centre.

But her homecoming turns out to be much more dangerous than she ever could have anticipated as the small town she left behind is now shrouded in mysteries.

Mysteries which all link back to a secretive commune of outcasts called the Tidelanders, who live in a hidden pocket of the bay.

The Tidelanders are a group of people who we soon learn are actually half-humans and half-sirens and have a very dangerous hold over the people in the community.

"I hope Australia will fall in love with her because she’s just so human," actress Charlotte Best told Mamamia.

"She’s searching for something. She’s just a young woman finding her place in the world, which I can definitely relate to. She is also very fiery and just messes with so many people on the show. She’s very much ‘cyclone Cal’ but ends up being redeemable.

“When it comes to the mythology behind the sirens, they were not something I was aware of before we started filming. Growing up I was mostly a Harry Potter fan.

"But the writers have done a beautiful job of bringing that mythology into these characters and this story. Every culture is connected by these same stories and connected by the water. The writers actually wrote a huge story bible for all of us to read while filming.

Many moments of Tidelands are slow-burn scenes with a level of intensity that mirrors the sultry water creatures entwined within the storyline. The show also has the ability to switch gears quite suddenly, morphing from moments of serious family drama into action sequences that often take place deep beneath the water.

For the opening episode, Charlotte found herself filming a particularly dangerous scene where her character is drowning.

"I actually was really claustrophobic as a kid and I had three brothers who used to put me in an esky. Or they would lock me up in a locker, I was just really small," she said about having to face her fears before filming a series of underwater stunts.

“But filming the scene when I was drowning was really incredible.

"The stunt team created a system that made it all look so real. So as I was really sinking, I was able to experience this really beautiful time under the water all alone where there was just silence.

"Actually, sometimes when I came out of the water I couldn’t hear anything. Once I couldn’t hear out of my left ear for nearly three days because I had gone down too deep for too long.

"Sometimes under the water I felt like I was really a siren."

Adding an extra layer of supernatural flair to Tidelands is Spanish actress Elsa Pataky, who stars in the series as the alluring Adrielle Cuthbert, the leader of the Tidelanders who will go to any length to protect her tribe of people.

"Everybody has heard these stories,  about this one singular voice that can be heard across the water by the sailors and that’s what starts it off," Elsa told Mamamia of the siren mythology. "But with our story, there is something else there, some more mystery to be discovered as you watch.

"For the character of Adrielle, it is not that she is pure evil, it's that she has so many other sides to her character that we have yet to discover."

The siren power that Elsa speaks of is at it's most potent in an opening episode of the series where Adrielle pays a visit to Cal's brother Augie (Aaron Aakubenko), a man who not only knows the Tidelander's secrets but is also involved in a series of clandestine business dealings with them.

The scene in question starts out as a very erotic moment between the pair but quickly dissolves into a more life and death situation once the full force of the siren's power is on display.

It's ultimately the Tidelands moment that establishes the real power dynamic between the humans and the sirens.

"It’s one of the first times you see how powerful Adrielle is and that she has a special power that is not at all human," Elsa said of the intense scene."Their relationship at that moment is just as much about love as it is about hate.

"In a sex scene like that there is so much to establish and the chemistry we have in that scene makes it one of my very favourite scenes in the show.

He co-star Aaron Aakubenko agreed, telling Mamamia: "The writers did such a good job of having that relationship between Augie and Adrielle inherently there in the script from the start, as soon as we read it we knew instantly what these two characters were about.

"It’s a strange thing to play, to be on screen as a human and to be enchanted by this siren. You know in post-production that they are going to add music or a sound or something to heighten it all, but on the set it was a lot of fun to play with."

The eight-episode series was filmed exclusively in Queensland and features an extensive cast of talented Australian actors and actresses.

Tidelands also features an exceptional storyline with a series of twists and turns that will leave you dizzy.

Don't ignore the siren call of this new Netflix hit.

All episodes of Tidelands are available to watch now on Netflix. The series is rated MA15+.

Want more from Laura Brodnik? Visit our newsletter page and sign up to "TV and Movies"  for a backstage pass to the best movies, TV shows and celebrity interviews (see one of her newsletters here).