Cassandra Helmot on discovering Canberra as part of ABC show 'The PM's Daughter'

The upcoming season, which premieres on ABC Me on June 12, follows Cat Perez (Helmot) who's a normal teenager, except that her mum is the first female prime minister of Australia who is of Spanish heritage.

While the series is set in Canberra, the first series was primarily filmed in Sydney due to COVID.

This meant Helmot's first experience filming at the locations that are so familiar to her character didn't happen until filming commenced for season two.

"It gave me a lot of mental context because I was like, in this scene, that's the building I'm physically in or I'm meant to be in," she says.

"And it was a reminder that I was meant to be in the actual Parliament House, for example, and that's what it looks like. Or 'Oh right, The Lodge doesn't look like that inside. It's a real place, in a different state'.

"I just lost sight of that, so this reminded me that these are real places. And that's where I'm meant to be."

The PM's Daughter has been somewhat of an education for the 19-year-old.

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When she first stepped into the shoes of Cat Perez, she was also set to vote in her first election.

The role proved to be a chance to learn what she needed to know about the voting process, federal politics, and, the hot topic for season one, the environment.

This season, however, the 10-episode series dives into the highly debated topic of artificial intelligence.

"There is a lot of debate going on in the show about how ethical it is. It made me think about it a lot more - I'm scared of AI now too," Helmot says.

"There's a lot of debate on the ethical concerns, but also showing how awesome it can be at the same time. And we did that a bit with the political and environmental aspects last season.

"We get to explore a bunch of relevant stuff, which I think is good in a kids' show so that kids can be educated and aware of what's going on as well."

It's not all serious plot points, however. It is a kids' show, after all.

The PM's Daughter is full of cringe-worthy moments of a teenage daughter finding out her mum is dating again, the questions surrounding what life after high school is going to look like, and the odd conspiracy or two that Cat Perez's life just happens to attract. Almost like a modern-day, Aussie Nancy Drew.

And then there are the elements that can only be discussed when dealing with politics, gender and ethnicity.

"It still shows very specific struggles that the prime minister in our fictional world is going through because of her gender, or ethnicity. And it shows that this is a real thing, and it's a real problem in real life," Helmot says.

"There are specific struggles that you will only have because you're a certain gender, and it's really important to cover those so that people are aware of them. And hopefully, we can minimise them."

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