As Tuuli Narkle drove a lonely outback highway home she couldn't help breaking down in tears due to the pressure and fear which had weighed on her mind in recent months.

Mystery Road Origin filming had just wrapped up in the WA town of Kalgoorlie, where Narkle was portraying a young Mary Allen, a role she had long been drawn too.

Narkle saw a lot of herself in Mary and had shared some experiences with her on-screen character - she understood the level of pain and how life could press down on you.

When production ended, Narkle tried to shake off Mary as much as she could by detoxing her body with the long drive back to Boorloo (Perth).

"I hit a point maybe half way through the drive where I realised the gravity what I have done," Narkle said.

"I bawled my eyes out for like two-three hours of just letting go of Mary and letting go of the character and the story, and the pain she has gone through."

Narkle, who is of Noongar and Finnish descent, originally auditioned for a different role when the show was in the early stages of pre-production.

To her surprise she ended up landing the lead role of the young Mary, the soon to be wife of detective Jay Swan.

"I first auditioned for another character," Narkle said.

"They called me back maybe a couple of days later and were like 'we would love to have you read for the part of Mary."

This was a dream for Narkle who had always wanted to play a young Tasma Walton, who portrayed Mary in the previous shows.

Narkle was lucky enough to get the chance to meet Walton before production began and the two connected through their shared experiences of being raised in rural Western Australia.

With the characters already having a fanbase and being loved by the audience, Narkle felt the pressure to carry on the story's legacy.

"The biggest thing was doing justice to the story and doing justice to people whose lives mirror those experiences," Narkle said.

"I mean there are some points in the storyline that I haven't experienced and so making sure I just honoured that was probably scary."

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With Melbourne going into its second lock down, Narkle had to organise her life in one day before she jumped on a plane and headed to Perth for four months for filming.

"The production company called me and was like 'can we get you on a plane tomorrow?' and I was kind of like 'omg, yeah I guess so'," Narkle said.

She quarantined for two weeks alone in a hotel room, and after that she made her way to Kalgoorlie, 600km from Boorloo to film.

Narkle said her portrayal of Mary brought a new side to the strong-willed character audiences have come to know.

"We are seeing a little bit of her softness and her naivete and her hope for life," she said.

"Before that kind of gets crushed by getting older or the things Mary then goes through with Jay."

A vulnerable character is someone Narkle loves to play the most; it's a challenge for her to flex her creative muscles.

"You count your lucky stars as an actor when you get roles that are so deep and so meaningful and that have so much nuance," she said.

"Because this story means so much to me and this kind of representation means so much to me, I kind of loved it, even though it was tough."

Narkle found her passion for acting when she was a little girl acting in school plays.

She has since graduated from Sydney's National Institute of Dramatic Art, where she found acting gave a once "quiet and serious kid" an intense adrenaline rush.

"I think once I found I could express my Aboriginally through performing I was like 'yeah I am sold' that's what I want to do," Narkle said.

"I think about the young black girls watching these roles and just thinking 'I could do that or I could be that or that is a representation of me', I think that is incredibly important."

Mystery Road is streaming on ABC iView.