That anyone watching the terrifying Alien: Earth might be wondering, “Hey, where did they shoot this?” or “I want to go there!” is a testament to the imagination of the production design as well as the natural splendor of its setting. As man, machine, and xenomorph inflict myriad horrors upon each other, we get glimpses of a lush and verdant future Earth that very much exists today—in Thailand. That’s right, we’ve got another runaway hit on television that’s set in the Southeast Asian nation, although it’s more than a bit of a departure from The White Lotus.
Alien: Earth sets its scenes in a couple key locations of Thailand in the year 2120, by which point the planet has been privatized and is governed by a small list of competing corporations. We have a bustling metropolis governed by the Prodigy Corporation, and the space ship that crashes into it. And then there’s Neverland, Prodigy’s remote island headquarters. For production designer Andy Nicholson, designing the show’s world meant moving to Thailand for about a year and scoping out which parts of the existing world could conceivably exist next century.
“The tropical element was written into the script, as was the future city where climate change is out of control,” Nicholson said. Below, he takes Condé Nast Traveler through what the locations in Thailand gave him to work with in these regards.
Bangkok stood in for Prodigy City in Alien: Earth
New Siam, also known as Prodigy City for the corporation that rules it, is largely shot in Bangkok. “The patina of the city was perfect for what we were looking for,” Nicholson said, referring to the juxtaposition of a verdant, steamy climate with an expansive urban sprawl. The architecture in particular made the setting singular, according to Nicholson: “I didn’t really appreciate it until I was there scouting that Bangkok—and Thailand—has never been colonized. There’s no colonial architecture, and the architectural history is very new. You go straight from traditional wood building to concrete, without brick or stone. There’s very interesting Brutalist architecture to play with.” The city’s canals were so striking that they were worked into the script after scouting.
Into some high-end, high-rise towers above the bustle drops Maginot, the ill-fated space vessel carrying a sampling of alien life. Multiple real-life locations were used in the crash site’s filming. The vessel was a set, of course, but was actually built within a five-story abandoned parking garage. The crash site itself was filmed on the north side of Phetchaburi Road, in Neon Market. This is a busy shopping destination set in a parking lot and surrounded on all sides by looming towers. Lastly, there’s the basement of the towers where Wendy and the alien first come to blows—this space actually existed beneath the new Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal, also known as Bang Sue Grand Station.
Krabi gets its moment to shine—again
Krabi is a bit of a movie star these days. Jurassic World Rebirth also filmed there, and it’s easy to see why: “It’s the classic Thai look, very steep cliffs going right down into the water, pillar stack islands all over the place.” This dramatic waterside landscape, namely Ao Nam Beach, served as the stomping grounds for Wendy (Sydney Chandler) and the rest of the Lost Boys—human children whose consciousness has been uploaded into synthetic bodies—at Prodigy Corporation’s Neverland facility.
