''The Mosquito Coast'' is an American

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

television series developed by

Neil Cross Neil Cross ( Neil Claude Gadd; born 9 February 1969) is a British novelist and scriptwriter, best known as the creator of the drama series ''Luther'' and ''Hard Sun''. He is also the showrunner for the TV adaptation of '' The Mosquito Coast'', ...

and

Tom Bissell Tom Bissell (born January 9, 1974) is an American journalist, critic, and fiction writer. In 2021, he co-developed the television series ''The Mosquito Coast (TV series), The Mosquito Coast'' based on the novel of the same name. He is also known ...

based on the novel of the same name by

Paul Theroux Paul Edward Theroux (born April 10, 1941) is an American novelist and travel writer who has written numerous books, including the travelogue, '' The Great Railway Bazaar'' (1975). Some of his works of fiction have been adapted as feature films. He ...

published in 1981. It is also loosely adapted from the 1986 film which starred

Harrison Ford Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American actor. His films have grossed more than $5.4billion in North America and more than $9.3billion worldwide, making him the seventh-highest-grossing actor in North America. He is the recipient o ...

. The series stars

Justin Theroux Justin Paul Theroux (; born August 10, 1971) is an American actor and filmmaker. He gained recognition for his work with director David Lynch in the mystery film ''Mulholland Drive'' (2001) and the thriller film ''Inland Empire'' (2006). He also ...

, nephew of Paul, and

Melissa George Melissa George (born 6 August 1976) is an Australian actress and entrepreneur. A former national artistic rollerskating champion and model, George began her acting career playing Angel Parrish in the Australian soap opera Home and Away (1993– ...

in lead roles, with Logan Polish and

Gabriel Bateman Gabriel Michael Bateman (born September 10, 2004) is an American actor. He is best known for starring in numerous horror films, including as Robert in '' Annabelle'' (2014), Martin Wells in '' Lights Out'' (2016), Andy Barclay in '' Child's Play' ...

rounding out the main cast. Justin Theroux also serves as executive producer of the series, along with

Rupert Wyatt Rupert Wyatt (born 26 October 1972) is an English screenwriter, director and producer. He made his directorial debut with the 2008 film ''The Escapist (2008 film), The Escapist'', which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. His second film wa ...

who directed the first two episodes. The first season consists of seven episodes and premiered on

Apple TV+ Apple TV is a digital media player and microconsole developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is a small network appliance hardware that plays received media data such as video and audio to a television set or external display. Since its secon ...

on April 30, 2021, and concluded on June 4, 2021. In June 2021, the series was renewed for a second season consisting of ten episodes. The second season premiered on November 4, 2022 and concluded on January 6 2023.

Premise

An idealistic inventor, disgusted with the corruption of the industrial world, uproots his family to Latin America. When the U.S. government tries to catch them, they take a dangerous quest through Mexico to flee the U.S. government and find safety.

Cast

Main

as Allie Fox, an idealistic family man and inventor growing increasingly disillusioned with commercialization in the United States. *

as Margot Fox, Allie's wife and a former university professor and

environmentalist An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that se ...

. *Logan Polish as Dina Fox, Allie and Margot's teenage daughter. **Billie Roy portrays a young Dina Fox (guest season 2). *

as Charlie Fox, Allie and Margot's young son. *

Ian Hart Ian Davies (born 8 October 1964), better known by his stage name Ian Hart, is an English actor. His most notable roles are Rabbit in the Channel Four drama miniseries ''One Summer'' (1983), Joe O'Reilly in the biopic ''Michael Collins'' (1996) ...

as William "Bill" Lee (season 2; recurring season 1), a professional

hitman Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may be ...

who is hired by Lucrecia to hunt down Allie and is later hired by Guillermo to work as a fixer. *

Ariyon Bakare Ariyon Bakare () is an English actor. He has appeared in the BBC soap opera '' Doctors'' (2001–2005) as Ben Kwarme, the Amazon Prime series ''Good Omens'' and ''Carnival Row'' (2019), and the BBC series ''His Dark Materials''. Prior to this, ...

as Richard Beaumont (season 2), an environmentalist,

domestic terrorist Domestic terrorism or homegrown terrorism is a form of terrorism in which victims "within a country are targeted by a perpetrator with the same citizenship" as the victims.Gary M. Jackson, ''Predicting Malicious Behavior: Tools and Techniques ...

and former lover of Margot who he tracks down with the hopes of fulfilling an unknown agenda. *

Natalia Cordova-Buckley Natalia Cordova-Buckley (born November 25, 1982) is a Mexican-American actress. She is best known for starring as Yo-Yo Rodriguez, Elena "Yo-Yo" Rodriguez / Slingshot in the American Broadcasting Company, ABC superhero drama series ''Agents of S. ...

as Isela (season 2), the de-facto leader of Casa Roja, a remote community of exiles and runaways in the rainforests of

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

, and an old friend of Allie. *Daniel Raymont as Guillermo Bautista (season 2), the

drug lord A drug lord, drug baron, kingpin or narcotrafficker is a high-ranking crime boss who controls a sizable network of people involved in the illegal drug trade. Such figures are often difficult to bring to justice, as they are normally not directly ...

of an influential

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

n gang whose dying father owns the land Casa Roja is built on.

Recurring

Kimberly Elise Kimberly Elise Trammel (born April 17, 1967) is an American film and television actress. She made her feature film debut in '' Set It Off'' (1996), and later received critical acclaim for her performance in ''Beloved'' (1998). During her career, ...

as Estelle Jones (season 1), a mysterious government agent tracking Allie and his family. *

James LeGros James Le Gros () (born April 27, 1962) is an American actor. He was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for his performance in '' Living in Oblivion''. Career James Le Gros appeared as Rick in Gus Van Sant's 1989 ...

as Don Voorhees (season 1), an NSA agent and Jones' partner. *Scotty Tovar as Chuy Padilla (season 1), a

coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecologica ...

who helps smuggle Allie and his family across the

Mexico–U.S. Border The Mexico–United States border ( es, frontera Estados Unidos–México) is an international border separating Mexico and the United States, extending from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Gulf of Mexico in the east. The border traver ...

. *

Ofelia Medina María Ofelia Medina Torres (born 4 March 1950) is a Mexican actress, singer and screenwriter of Mexican films. She was married to film director Alex Philips Jr. and actor Pedro Armendáriz Jr. Biography She was born in Mérida and has four ...

as Lucrecia Salazar (season 1), the vicious matriarch of a powerful Mexican

drug cartel A drug cartel is any criminal organization with the intention of supplying drug trafficking operations. They range from loosely managed agreements among various drug traffickers to formalized commercial enterprises. The term was applied when the ...

. * Matt McCoy as JJ Raban (season 2), a former high-ranking

NSA The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collecti ...

agent whose career was ruined by Allie. *Mike Ostroski as Ridley (season 2), an experienced

smuggler Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. There are various ...

who brings supplies to Casa Roja. *Alejandro Akara as Adolfo (season 2), a young smuggler, Ridley's adopted son and Dina's love interest. *

Reed Diamond Reed Edward Diamond (born July 20, 1967) is an American actor. He is known for the roles of Det. Mike Kellerman on '' Homicide: Life on the Street'', Jason Pillar in season 8 of '' 24'', and recurring character Laurence Dominic on ''Dollhouse' ...

as Carter Albrecht (season 2), the lead

land developer Land development is the alteration of landscape in any number of ways such as: * Changing landforms from a natural or semi-natural state for a purpose such as agriculture or housing * Subdividing real estate into lots, typically for the purpose ...

of an urban development project who is working with Andrea to build on the lands where Casa Roja resides. *Cosima Cabrera as Andrea Bautista (season 2), Guillermo's younger sister, who hopes to sell their family's land to Carter.

Guest

* Kevin Dunn as Margot's dad. (season 1) * Kate Burton as Margot's mother. (season 1) * Emily Chang as Officer V. Chu (season 1), a police officer who has had frequent run-ins with Allie. *Tommy Martinez as Juan (season 1), Chuy's friend and a coyote in Arizona. *

Bruno Bichir Bruno Bichir Nájera (born 6 October 1967) is a Mexican actor and one of the members of the Bichir family. Biography Bichir was born in Mexico City. He started his acting career at the age of five in several theater, film and television series. ...

as Enrique Salazar (season 1), the owner of a private estate across the border that serves as a front for a drug cartel. *

Luis de La Rosa Luis de la Rosa is a Mexican actor, best known for his role as Mexican singer Luis Miguel as a teenager in the biographical drama series '' Luis Miguel: The Series'', and as Bruno Riquelme de la Mora in '' The House of Flowers'', both producti ...

as Hugo (season 1), Enrique's young son. *Alexandre Bar as Patrice (season 1), a French backpacker who befriends Charlie. *Nicole Rainteau as Tessa (season 1), a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

backpacker traveling with Patrice. *

Paterson Joseph Paterson D. Joseph (born 22 June 1964) is a British actor. He appeared in the Royal Shakespeare Company productions of ''King Lear'' and '' Love's Labour's Lost'' in 1990. On television he is best known for his roles in ''Casualty'' (1997–1998) ...

as "Calaca" (season 1), the gatekeeper to Casa Roja, a sanctuary for fugitives fleeing from the U.S. government. * Terry Serpico as Hershey (season 1), a boat salesman in Pichilinque. *

Gustavo Sánchez Parra Gustavo Sánchez Parra (born 30 September 1966) is a Mexican actor. He has appeared in more than ninety films since 2000. Selected filmography References External links * 1966 births Living people Mexican male film actors {{ ...

as Lieutenant A. Flores (season 1), the head of the Pichilinque police department. *Ritu Lal as Pavani (season 2), Allie's former business partner. *Will Price as Caleb (season 2), an

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

graduate and

computer hacker A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who uses their technical knowledge to achieve a goal or overcome an obstacle, within a computerized system by non-standard means. Though the term ''hacker'' has become associated in popu ...

hired by Guillermo.

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2021)

Season 2 (2022-23)

Production

Development

The series was formally given a green light September 16, 2019, with

as the show runner and

directing the first two episodes and executive producing the series. Cross and

wrote the first episode. On June 2, 2021, Apple TV+ renewed the series for a second season.

Casting

Along with the announcement,

(a nephew of Paul Theroux) was said to star as the main character. On November 4, 2019, it was announced that

, and Logan Polish joined the series starring as Theroux's family members in the series.

joined the project on November 19, 2019. For the second season,

, and

were announced as series regulars on February 16, 2022.

Filming

Filming for the series began in November 2019 in Los Angeles. Production then shifted to

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

only to be canceled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The series resumed filming October to December in

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...

Zapopan Zapopan () is a city and municipality located in the Mexican state of Jalisco. Part of the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area, the population of Zapopan city proper makes it the second largest city in the state, very close behind the population of ...

, and

Puerto Vallarta Puerto Vallarta ( or simply Vallarta) is a Mexican beach resort city situated on the Pacific Ocean's Bahía de Banderas in the Mexican state of Jalisco. Puerto Vallarta is the second largest urban agglomeration in the state after the Guadala ...

. In mid-December, the series filmed in the

Riviera Nayarit The Riviera Nayarit () is a nearly 200-mile stretch of coastline in Mexico between the historic port of San Blas, of Nayarit to where the Río Ameca empties into Banderas Bay, Nuevo Vallarta. Riviera Nayarit was named to promote the coastline ...

. On February 1, 2021, in an interview with his cousin

Louis Theroux Louis Sebastian Theroux (; born 20 May 1970) is a British-American documentarian, journalist, broadcaster, and author. He has received two British Academy Television Awards and a Royal Television Society Television Award. After graduating fro ...

, Justin Theroux revealed he was filming in Guadalajara.

Release

The series premiered on

with its first two episodes on April 30, 2021. The first season consisted of a total of seven episodes, releasing weekly until June 4, 2021. On June 3, 2021, the series was renewed for a second season.

Reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, ''The Mosquito Coast'' holds an approval rating of 63% based on 46 reviews, with an average rating of 6.36/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "''The Mosquito Coast'' has suspense to spare, but by burying the best parts of its source material in too many twists it fails to turn into a satisfying series." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which uses a weighted average, the series has a score of 55 out of 100 based on 22 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Nick Allen of '' RogerEbert.com'' gave the series a negative review, writing that "the series is far less radical than it posits—especially with plotting that turns a blind eye to the family's inherent advantages—and the tone-deaf tourism of ''The Mosquito Coast'' makes for an adventure that's increasingly difficult to go along with."

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mosquito Coast Apple TV+ original programming 2021 American television series debuts 2020s American drama television series English-language television shows Television series by Fremantle (company) Television productions suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic Television shows based on American novels Paul Theroux Television shows filmed in Mexico