Last week production started in Canada on the final episode for the first season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, but the show is also filming in a land of enchantment.
Strange New Worlds in the Southwest
Strange New Worlds is primarily shot at CBS Stages in Toronto, but the production isn’t limiting themselves to Ontario, Canada. Today the New Mexico Film Office announced Strange New Worlds is utilizing New Mexico landscapes for the show’s visual effects.
Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument in New Mexico
There are no details on what locations are being used, but the state of New Mexico in the Southwestern United States offers a variety of different landscapes, likely being uses to help the show establish the look of one or more of the “strange new worlds.” The new show set onboard the USS Enterprise under the command of Captain Pike is styled like Star Trek: The Original Series, using a “planet-of-the-week” episodic format that would require a variety of different locations.
Valles Caldera National Preserve in New Mexico
“We are thrilled that New Mexico landscapes are being utilized for VFX in the television series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. New Mexico has so much to offer productions and we continue to build up the state’s resources as a well-established ecosystem that can support projects in all stages,” said Amber Dodson, Director, New Mexico Film Office in a statement.
White Sands National Monument in New Mexico
It’s likely filming in New Mexico is being done by a second unit, and doesn’t involve the primary series cast. However, if this VFX work started earlier in the year, it’s possible the cast was able to work within some of the locations while in Toronto using the new AR wall “virtual set” technology being utilized for Strange New Worlds (and Discovery season four).
Bisti Badlands in New Mexico
Popular with westerns and known for some local shows such as Roswell, New Mexico and Breaking Bad, New Mexico has also been a popular destination for a number of sci-fi films including Batman vs. Superman, Thor, Maze Runner, The Avengers, Transformers, Jumanji: The Next Level, and John Carter of Mars.
Dwayne Johnson filming Jumanji: The Next Level at Shiprock Peak in New Mexico
No release date has been set, but Strange New Worlds is expected to arrive in 2022 on Paramount+ in the USA and Latin American, and on CTV Sci-Fi in Canada. Other international partners are yet to be announced.
Find more news and analysis for Strange New Worlds.
That first picture is the Vasquez Rocks on steroids. :-)
Haha kind of true. But Tent Rocks is amazing. If you ever get to go, it’s a pretty incredible place to visit
It does look amazing!
If they were looking for interesting semi desert rocks they could have just gone to the southern Alberta badlands. It would have likely helped their tax credits, and maybe got some from another province.
Here’s Drumheller…
https://images.app.goo.gl/Eosq68jYXeHaFtTM7
about time they started catching up with the splendor of GALAXY QUEST’s planet in TREK.
Hee! I hadn’t thought of that, but you’re right.
I wonder whether they might be filming in Valles Caldera or a similar green place for a flashback or visit to Pike’s home town of Mojave (previously seen and described as surrounded by green parkland in “The Cage”).
If so, I also wonder whether we’ll see Tango and Mary Lou?
It seems like green pastures are easier to come by almost anywhere but New Mexico! But who knows, maybe your right? I’d love a flashback like that though.
I’ve been through Mojave a few times. Green doesn’t come to mind driving through there.
I believe the suggestion was that the area had undergone some major ecological transformation between “now” and Pike’s time.
That might have been a throwaway line over fifty years ago, but the notion that earth needed terraforming is very problematic now. Deserts serve their purpose, as well.
The landscapes are stunning
[obligatory Breaking Bad joke]
Very cool. I’m just guessing but Anson Mount expressed little interest in spending 12 hours a day on a soundstage. I wouldn’t be surprised if part of his contact negotiations were to do some location shooting. I live near Toronto. There were several times SNW was out on location, in the area. He spent 5 seasons, filming Hell On Wheels, in Western Canada. I think pretty much the majority of the scenes were outside.
He definitely seems to be an outdoorsy guy
I’ll stand corrected if wrong, but I was under the impression this was just FX work. I don’t know if any front of camera talent would be there for that.
New Mexico is for VFX work. A second unit team is doing the filming.
Principal photography, with the cast, is filmed in Mississauga Ontario, just west of Toronto. They did do some location shooting around Toronto.
So odd to have Star Trek filming in my state. I’d love to get in on that action if possible (a guy can dream lol).
Me too! Too bad nobody knows we are a State!🤣