The tale of a group of teenagers who become reluctant rebels after Australia is invaded by a "coalition" of foreign forces, it has certainly stayed with Madeleine Clunies-Ross. "I read the first book when I was in Year 6, and I loved it," says the 19-year-old uni student from Sydney who makes her screen debut as the loner Fi Maxwell in the new six-part series for ABC3.

"It was edgy, a bit exciting, and it's always stuck with me because it's one of the few Australian kids' franchises. And when you're a bit older, you find different things that interest you in the story."

The first volume in Marsden's seven-book series was published in 1993. Twenty-six reprints later, it continues to be a fixture on year-end top 10 lists (it was the third-best selling Australian Young Adult title in 2014-15), with the series having reportedly notched up sales worldwide of more than 2 million copies.

It has certainly stayed with Andrew Creer, too. "I was 13 or 14 when I read it and it was the first book series I ever got through," says the 21-year-old WAAPA graduate who plays Kevin Holmes, the eldest of the group of seven teens and, as an apprentice mechanic, the only one who doesn't have his eyes set on uni or travel before the world turns upside down. "I had the attention span of a squirrel on drugs, and I felt so many of the books we read at school were aiming for something below us or above us, but Tomorrow was so relatable."

Having grown up on a farm near Tamworth, Creer says he felt like an outsider when he moved to Sydney to attend boarding school, and that is in part why he related so strongly to Kevin. But, he says, it was the same for all the cast members. "Everyone is their character," he says. "It's been cast so well that you kind of just slip into the roles before you even walk on set."

Tomorrow When the War Began has stayed with film and TV producer Michael Boughen, too. He first became aware of Marsden's series in 2002, through his then-12-year-old son. "He said, 'Dad, this book is fantastic; you've got to read this, you've got to make a film'," he recalls. "So I read it, and I was really excited. In fact, I read all seven over the course of two weekends."

Boughen knew there was the making of a franchise there, but it took five years before he could secure an option to adapt it (others had got there first, but never quite brought the project to fruition). He eventually got the rights to all seven books.

In 2010, Tomorrow When the War Began was released in cinemas. It was a big-budget affair – costing somewhere north of $25 million – with a strong cast that included Caitlin Stasey as the central character/narrator Ellie Linton, Lincoln Lewis as Kevin and Ashleigh Cummings as the deeply religious Robyn Mathers. Colin Friels headed up the supporting cast of adults.

It was well-made, generally well-liked by the critics, and did well in Australia: with $13.5 million at the box-office, it was the top local film of 2010. But didn't really fire overseas, in no small part because of its perceived similarities to Red Dawn, in which a group of American teens become freedom fighters after their country is invaded by foreign forces (from Cuba and the Soviet Union in the 1984 original, from North Korea in the 2012 remake).

Before its release, the production company Omnilab had talked of the film as the first in a projected trilogy, with the possibility of a TV series to follow. The lack of foreign sales effectively put the kybosh on that plan.

But Boughen – who produced the film and is back for the series – resolutely clung to the idea that Tomorrow had legs.

"It would be nice to have seven series, though I don't think we'll get there," he says of its reincarnation for television. "Realistically, we're thinking three or four."

Shot around Victoria – the gorgeous country town of Clunes and beachy Barwon Heads stand in for the fictional Wirrawee; the route to the bush oasis known as Hell passes through the real-world Hanging Rock – the long span of the series allows for far greater character exploration than did the movie. But where it really differs from the film is in its perspective, says Boughen.

The film was largely seen through Ellie's eyes, but in the series the perspective is widened to include the other kids, as well as their parents (most of whom are in internment camps).

Ellie – now played by Molly Daniels, daughter of Upper Middle Bogan writer-star Robyn Butler and comedian Ross Daniels, and already something of a TV veteran herself as a creator and star of the kids' sketch comedy series You're Skitting Me – remains a key figure, but Boughen is confident the widened appeal makes for "great family viewing. There's 20 years of history with these books, so people who were reading them first as teenagers can now watch the series with their own kids".

For Jon Prasida, a 21-year-old born in Sydney after his parents migrated from Indonesia, Tomorrow hasn't just stuck, it's been an occasional thorn in his side.

He first auditioned for the role of Lee Takkam in the movie, when he was 16, but didn't get the part. "To be honest, I don't think I was ready to do it," he says. "I don't think my acting was up to par."

In the movie, the invading force was fairly obviously Asian. That was always one of the more contentious points in Marsden's stories – the spectre of the invading hordes from the north, the Yellow Peril of old – and it troubled Prasida at the time.

"Six years ago I think I felt a little more strongly about it," he says. "The books are ambiguous, open to interpretation – the invaders are a coalition, they see some free land they want to be a part of."

Perhaps mindful of all those foreign markets to which it will hopefully be sold, the series quickly establishes that this time around the invading coalition includes Caucasian troops (and, striking a blow for equal opportunity, women too). And that's just fine with Prasida.

"The most exciting thing is it feels real," he says. "God forbid it would actually happen in Australia, but if it did this is how it would go down. I love the rawness and the realness of it."

And if the world feels the same way, you can bet there'll be plenty more to come.

Tomorrow When the War Began is on ABC3 Saturday 7.30pm from April 23

Karl Quinn is on Facebook and on twitter @karlkwin