After Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan new season, Amazon has released another big budget thriller series The Rig created and written by David Macpherson, Matthew Jacobs Morgan, and Meg Salter for Amazon Studios.
The six episode series started trending on Prime Video with the ensembling cast members that includes Emily Hampshire as the oil company representative Rose Mason, Ian Glen as the crew leader Magnus MacMillan, and Martin Compston as Fulmer Hamilton.
Filming of the series has not been a plain sailing for the cast as many of them suffered accidents on set. The series is not based on a real incident like Netflix’s Dog Gone but the sci-fi storyline will definitely give you a thrilling vibe.
Where is the Rig filmed?
The Rig was filmed in Edinburgh, Scotland inside the United Kingdom. It is the first Amazon Prime original series to be filmed in Scotland, reported by Nationalworld. Principal photography began on 29 March 2021 at Firststage Studios in Edinburgh and wrapped in August 2021.
Most of the filming was done within the Firststage Studios and the three story oil rig which has been featured in the series was created by the crew members in the studio area.
The studio is an 8.5 acre facility located at 31 Bath Road in Leith, 10 miles from Edinburgh Airport and approximately 60 miles from Glasgow, according to the official website of British Film Commision. Netflix’s Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga was recently filmed at the same studio.
Mark Bonnar has to say that the art department have done their job perfectly and everything you see in the show is real except for the sea part, that was created with the help of VFX and the editors have also done an incredible job.
Bonnar explains further that filming was quite challenging. The actor became pre-hypothermic while shooting one of the scenes and had to halt the filming to warm up. Moreover, Iain Glen fell from a crane during a take. The crew requested Bonnar to wear a harness even after the actor’s resistance and that certainly benefitted him.
Who’s in the cast of The Rig?
Emily Hampshire is starring as Rose Mason, the scientist and oil company representative. Iain Glen is the installation manager of rig named Magnus MacMillan who is also leading the crew. Martin Compston is playing the role of communications officer Fulmer Hamilton while Mark Bonnar is deck foreman Alwyn Evans.
Other notable cast members include:
- Rochenda Sandall as Cat Braithwaite
- Owen Teale as Lars Hutton
- Richard Pepple as Grant Dunlin
- Calvin Demba as Baz Roberts
- Emun Elliott as Leck Longman
- Abraham Popoola as Easter Ayodeji
- Stuart McQuarrie as Colin Murchison
- Molly Vevers as Heather Shaw
- Dougie Rankin as William Johnson
- Nikhil Parmar as Harish
- Mark Addy as David Coake
How does The Rig end?
The Rig ends with the escape of Magnus, Fulmer, Rose and all crew members except Baz Roberts who chose to sacrifice himself to save his team. Baz believed if they were able to assure the ancestors that they were willing to surrender then they may be able to avoid their annihilation and the man’s attempt proved to be fruitful.
They managed to escape from the ancestors just in time through helicopters but when Coake was questioned about their ongoing destination, he had given no answer that opens the gate for a potential second season.
Even though, the crew has managed to run from the impending situation for now, the Ancestors are not yet ready to team up with the mankind. A second season might bring the future of mankind.
