The NBC sci-fi drama La Brea just arrived on Netflix US on May 1, 2026, giving new viewers a chance to watch all three seasons of the show about a giant sinkhole that opens in Los Angeles. But while the story takes place in California, most of the La Brea Filming Locations was actually in Australia.
The show follows a group of survivors who fall into a mysterious sinkhole at the La Brea Tar Pits and wake up in a dangerous primeval world. The series ran for 30 episodes across three seasons on NBC before ending in 2024.
Where Was La Brea Actually Filmed?
La Brea filmed mostly in Melbourne, Australia, along with several other locations in the state of Victoria. The production team chose Australia because of government financial incentives, including a $9.66 million grant from the Australian Federal Government’s Location Incentive Program.
The first episode of La Brea was filmed in Los Angeles to establish the show’s setting. But after that, production moved to Australia, where the crew built sets and filmed outdoor scenes that were edited to look like California.
Melbourne and Docklands Studios
Most of the indoor scenes for La Brea were shot at Docklands Studios Melbourne, a large facility with multiple sound stages. Producer Jeff Rafner called these stages the “A-list player in town,” saying they were big enough for anything the production needed to build.
The production team also used several locations around Melbourne, including:
- Coburg High School
- Coburg Hills area
- University of Melbourne in Parkville on Grattan Street
Season two of La Brea returned to Melbourne to film at Docklands Studios again. The show was the most expensive television production in Victoria since Steven Spielberg’s The Pacific finished filming in 2009.
Mount Macedon Range and Hesket
The cast and crew filmed important first season scenes at Mount Macedon in Victoria, about 64 kilometers from Melbourne. The production also used Hesket, a small town on the northern side of the mountain range.
When the show filmed in the Macedon Ranges Shire, the local economy got a big boost. Reports from the time showed the production spent $15,000 to $20,000 per night on local accommodation alone, plus additional money on meals and set construction materials.
A member of the Macedon Ranges Shire Council said having the production in the area was exciting and would help drive tourism in the long run. The council also noted that the project created work for an estimated 295 local businesses and provided jobs for 290 Australian cast and crew members.
Rye and Mornington Peninsula
Some outdoor scenes for La Brea were filmed in Rye, a seaside town on the Mornington Peninsula known for its sandy beaches. The production team used Rye Pier and other spots along the coast for certain shots.
IMDb listed several Victorian filming locations that appeared in the show, including Mornington Peninsula’s Rye, Coburg Hill, Kew, Pascoe Vale, and the studios in Docklands and Clayton.
Season Three Move to Queensland
When La Brea returned for its third and final season, production moved from Victoria to Queensland, Australia. The show contributed an estimated $38 million ($25.1 million USD) to the Queensland economy during filming.
How Filmmakers Made Australia Look Like Los Angeles
The visual effects team worked hard to make Melbourne and regional Victoria look like familiar Los Angeles locations. Andy Brown, the lead VFX supervisor on La Brea, relied on effects studios like FuseFX, Mr. X, and Fin Design + Effects to transform the footage.
About two-thirds of La Brea takes place in the prehistoric underworld, while the remaining third happens in modern-day Los Angeles. The first episode alone required 240 visual effects shots.
The visual effects team did LiDAR (3D) scans of the La Brea Tar Pits area in Los Angeles and used those scans to enhance the Melbourne footage digitally. They also created seven different prehistoric creatures for the show based on research of animal skeletons from 20,000 B.C.
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How to Watch La Brea Now
All 30 episodes of La Brea are now available to stream on Netflix US as of May 1, 2026. The show is also available on Peacock and Amazon Prime Video. International viewers in select regions got access to the show in late 2024, generating 21.5 million views through the end of 2025.
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