Action thrillers often depend on more than explosions, fast cars, and famous stars. The right landscape can become a character of its own, and that is especially true for The Mongoose (2026), the upcoming Liam Neeson action thriller built around an intense cross-country chase. Although the story follows an American war hero and is set across locations including Kentucky, Arkansas, and the American Southwest, much of the movie was actually filmed in Victoria, Australia. The production used Melbourne, regional Victoria, highways, aerodromes, coastal areas, and suburban streets to create locations that could convincingly stand in for the United States.
Directed by veteran stunt professional Mark Vanselow and written by Thompson Evans, The Mongoose stars Liam Neeson as Ryan “Fang” Flanagan, alongside Marisa Tomei, Ving Rhames, Michael Chiklis, Brett Tucker, Stella Stocker, Hamish Michael, and others. The film follows a decorated combat veteran accused of a crime he did not commit. With police pursuing him, Fang becomes the center of a televised cross-country chase, while former members of his Special Forces unit help him stay ahead of authorities.
The Mongoose Release Date
The Mongoose is scheduled to be released on October 30, 2026, in the United States. The film is a United States-Australian production and is currently listed as an action thriller. According to production information, filming began in Victoria in early 2025, with the filmmakers using numerous locations around Melbourne and regional Victoria to recreate the American environments required by the story.
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The movie’s production was attracted to Victoria partly through the state’s screen incentives, and the production was expected to generate more than $19 million for the Victorian economy. It also created hundreds of jobs for local screen workers and involved numerous Victorian businesses.
Where Was The Mongoose Filmed?
The majority of The Mongoose was filmed in Victoria, Australia, rather than across the United States. The production made extensive use of Melbourne and surrounding regional areas, transforming Australian locations into American settings. Official Victorian film authorities confirmed that locations included Bacchus Marsh, Castlemaine, Bangholme, Little River, Moorabbin, Kensington, North Melbourne, Melbourne CBD, and other parts of the state.
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One of the most interesting aspects of the production is how Victoria was used to represent several different parts of America. According to VicScreen, locations in the state were used to double for Kentucky, Arkansas, and even the Gulf of Mexico area of Texas. This allowed the filmmakers to create the feeling of a huge American road journey without moving the production between multiple U.S. states.
Bacchus Marsh, Victoria
One of the most important filming locations was Bacchus Marsh, a regional town located west of Melbourne. The area became particularly significant because the production filmed major action material at Bacchus Marsh Aerodrome.
Liam Neeson and Ving Rhames were photographed at the aerodrome during production while working on a helicopter action sequence. The location provided the space necessary for the filmmakers to stage large-scale stunt work involving helicopters, vehicles, cranes, and other equipment.
The aerodrome was selected because it could accommodate the practical requirements of the sequence. Location manager Stephen Brett explained that the site effectively provided what the production needed for the scene. The resulting footage helped transform an Australian airfield into part of the movie’s American chase world.
Bacchus Marsh was also one of the places where the scale of the production became particularly visible to the local community. With helicopters and major stunt equipment involved, the shoot demonstrated how The Mongoose was designed around practical action rather than relying entirely on digital environments.
Castlemaine
Another major filming location was Castlemaine, a historic town in central Victoria. The production brought the Hollywood-scale action thriller into the town during February 2025.
Local reports indicated that filming involved streets around the town centre, including Lyttleton Street, Templeton Street, and Frederick Street, as well as sections near the Midland Highway.
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Castlemaine’s streets and surrounding landscape offered the filmmakers a very different visual environment from Melbourne. This variety was useful for a movie whose story depends heavily on the impression of a long-distance journey. Instead of making every location look identical, the production could move between urban streets, rural environments, highways, and open spaces while remaining in the same Australian state.
Melbourne and the Surrounding Suburbs
Melbourne served as another major production base for The Mongoose. The production was based out of the Melbourne Screen Hub in Footscray, while filming took place across multiple parts of the metropolitan area. Locations publicly identified include Melbourne CBD, North Melbourne, Kensington, Moorabbin, and Bangholme.
Using Melbourne gave the filmmakers access to a mixture of modern city streets, industrial areas, suburban roads, and recognizable urban environments. These locations could be dressed and photographed in ways that allowed them to represent American cities without requiring the production to actually film in the United States.
The combination of Melbourne’s infrastructure and regional Victoria’s open landscapes was especially useful for a movie centered on a continuous car chase. The production needed roads and locations capable of supporting vehicle stunts while also creating the impression that the characters were traveling hundreds or thousands of miles.
Altona and the Famous Pier Sequence
One of the more visually distinctive locations was Altona, a bayside suburb of Melbourne. In March 2025, the production filmed around Altona Beach, Altona Pier, Queen Street, Pier Street, and the Esplanade. Roads and parts of the waterfront were closed during the shoot to accommodate the production.
Liam Neeson was filmed driving a black Ford Mustang through the area, including onto Altona Pier. The sequence became one of the most recognizable examples of the production using an Australian location to create the movie’s American chase environment.
The waterfront setting also adds visual variety to a story that otherwise relies heavily on roads and pursuit scenes. Altona’s combination of streets, beach, pier, and Port Phillip Bay provided the production with a dramatic backdrop for the action.
Little River and Moorabbin
Little River was another Victorian location used during filming. Its rural surroundings helped provide the type of open landscape needed for the film’s road-driven story. The location is particularly well suited to productions requiring large areas, roads, and countryside without the visual density of central Melbourne.
Moorabbin was also included among the filming locations. Together with Bangholme and other Melbourne-area locations, it helped the production create the appearance of a much larger geographic journey.
This is one of the cleverest aspects of The Mongoose: the filmmakers did not need to film in every American state mentioned in the story. Instead, they could use different parts of Victoria to represent different regions, changing the visual identity of each location through production design, cinematography, costumes, vehicles, and editing.
Calder Freeway and Highway Chase Locations
Highways were essential to The Mongoose because the entire story is built around a massive pursuit. VicScreen reported that filming took place along the Calder Freeway between Malmsbury and Harcourt.
The production also temporarily shut down part of a freeway for filming. Producer Al Corley explained to ABC News that the movie required highway space because of the nature of the chase, although the crew only needed a relatively short section of road for the actual sequence.
These highway scenes are likely to be among the most important pieces of the finished movie. Rather than creating every chase environment digitally, the filmmakers could capture real vehicles moving through genuine Victorian landscapes, giving the action a more physical and grounded appearance.
Why Was Australia Used Instead of America?
The decision to film The Mongoose in Victoria was not simply a matter of convenience. The region offers a wide range of landscapes within relatively short distances. Filmmakers can access city streets, rural roads, coastal locations, highways, industrial areas, and historic towns without moving the production across an entire country.
Victoria also has a strong film-production infrastructure and experienced crews. The production was supported through Victorian screen incentives and was expected to create hundreds of jobs while bringing significant economic activity to the state.
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For an action movie dominated by vehicle sequences, practical locations are particularly valuable. Real roads, real landscapes, and real stunt environments can give chase scenes a sense of scale that is difficult to reproduce entirely on a soundstage.
The Real Locations Behind The Mongoose
Ultimately, The Mongoose is a great example of how modern filmmaking can transform one region into several different parts of the world. Although the story follows an American war veteran through a dramatic cross-country pursuit, the real production journey took place largely across Victoria, Australia.
From Bacchus Marsh Aerodrome and Castlemaine to Melbourne, Altona, Little River, Moorabbin, Bangholme, Kensington, North Melbourne, and the Calder Freeway, the production used a surprisingly broad collection of Victorian locations.
The result should be a visually varied action thriller in which Australian landscapes disappear behind the story’s American setting. With Liam Neeson leading the cast, Mark Vanselow bringing his stunt expertise to the director’s chair, and an entire movie structured around a high-speed chase, the locations are likely to play a major role in the film’s final look.
When The Mongoose arrives on October 30, 2026, audiences may see Kentucky, Arkansas, Texas, and other American landscapes on screen—but behind many of those images will be the roads, towns, coastlines, and countryside of Victoria, Australia.
