Season 1 of 'The Mosquito Coast' Takes Place in Mexico, But Was It Actually Filmed There?

Nearly 40 years after The Mosquito Coast novel debuted in 1981, author Paul Theroux's nephew has adapted the plot for the small screen. Justin Theroux both produced and played the lead role in the Apple TV+ production, which premiered on the streaming service on April 30.

Justin's character is Allie Fox, a genius who periodically moves his family around because of his paranoia that the government is monitoring his every move. 

Harrison Ford previously played the character in the 1986 film adaptation, but the series is quite different from both the novel and the movie.

At the beginning of the show, which takes place in the present, Allie decides to uproot his wife, Margot (Melissa George), and his two kids, Dina (Logan Polish) and Charlie (Gabriel Bateman), to the Mosquito Coast.

He's convinced that the government has found him, and that his more off-the-grid lifestyle has been compromised.  

Because he thinks he's being followed, Allie decides to drive to the picturesque coastline via Mexico. A variety of locations are utilized in the show, but where was The Mosquito Coast actually filmed?

When the series begins, Allie and his family are living in Southern California near the asparagus farm where the patriarch works. Those scenes were shot in Ventura County and, more specifically, in Piru and in the cities of Moorpark and Fillmore. 

Once Allie, Margot, and their kids embark on their road trip, they're seen traveling in the greater Los Angeles area.

As they move toward the border, the setting shifts to Mexico. 

The cast and crew had intended on filming in Mexico City as well, but production shut down there in March of 2020 due to the pandemic.

It resumed in October of that year, and it largely then took place in the Mexican states of Nayarit and Jalisco. 

The scenes of the Fox family driving along the Pacific Ocean were mostly filmed on the Riviera Nayarit, which is a 200-mile coastline stretch.

Other episode moments were shot in towns just off the coast in Nayarit.

Some of the city shots were taken in Guadalajara and Zapopan, which are both in Jalisco.  

Though Allie's main goal is to get to the Mosquito Coast, he doesn't actually get there in the first season. It's been referred to as a "prequel" of sorts when compared to the plot of the book (though it takes place in the present, while the book was focused in the '80s).

This sets up the plot for a potential second season, but The Mosquito Coast hasn't been renewed for yet.

Star Justin Theroux told Variety that he is interested in continuing the Apple TV+ series in the future, and that the first season only really scratched the surface on the Fox family's potential. 

"The thing that I look forward to, and I hope we get to some version of, is him [Allie] finding the Shangri-La. The things I like most in the movie are when they have that essentially a sort of Robinson Crusoe-style living situation where you can walk out in the morning and pick a mango off a tree and there's lunch," he explained. "I do want them to have a respite at some point where they enjoy themselves and reconnect as a family. But it's going to be difficult."

New episodes of The Mosquito Coast debut on Apple TV+ on Fridays.