The real-life locations behind famous desert island movies and TV shows
From Robinson Crusoe and Lord of the Flies to Lost and Battle Royale, here’s where these iconic movies were shot
The idea of being stranded on a desert island has long fascinated us, with Daniel Defoe’s 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe creating a whole new genre of works dedicated to the topic.
Some of our favourite films and TV shows, from Lost and Cast Away to Battle Royale and Tomb Raider, play with the idea and its implications. Wondering about the real-life locations behind these iconic movies and series? Wonder no more…
Lost
Perhaps the most famous desert island-based TV show, Lost captivated audiences over the course of six seasons between 2004 and 2010. The characters find themselves on an island somewhere in the South Pacific Ocean after a plane crash, and while the island itself is idyllic, the threats they face on it (including polar bears and other humans) are not. Much of the show was filmed in Hawai’i on the island of Oahu, with the beach scenes in season one shot on Mokule’ia Beach. Other filming locations include Ka’a’awa Valley, which has also starred in films like Jurassic Park and Godzilla, as well as the wooded areas near Kawela Bay on the island’s northernmost point.
Cast Away
Even if you haven’t seen Cast Away (2000), you’ll no doubt be familiar with Wilson, the volleyball that becomes Chuck Noland’s only friend while stranded on a desert island somewhere in the South Pacific. That desert island is in fact Monuriki Island in Fiji, a small uninhabited island which you can easily visit on a day trip. To mark 25 years since the movies’ release, Tourism Fiji have released a video showing Wilson’s life after Chuck sails away, one in which he lives ‘happily ever after’ having been found by a Fijian girl who takes him on her adventures.
Read next: How Fiji’s traditional communities are safeguarding its natural world
Robinson Crusoe
The 18th-century book has been made into a film numerous times, but perhaps the most famous adaptation came in 1997. Starring Pierce Brosnan, the film sees the titular character shipwrecked in a typhoon near the coast of New Guinea, with Madang Province in Papua New Guinea serving as the backdrop for the movie.
You may also have seen Crusoe, a TV series from 2008 starring Sean Bean and Sam Neill. That was filmed in the Seychelles and South Africa.
Read next: New Gold Dreams: Discovering Papua New Guinea’s Bougainville
Lord of the Flies
Another book with multiple adaptations, Lord of the Flies sees a group of British boys stranded on an uninhabited island. While the book, published in 1954, doesn’t specify a location for the island, the 1963 film was shot on the island of Vieques in Puerto Rico, and the 1990 adaptation was filmed in Portland Parish in Jamaica.
Read next: Island of Enchantment: where to go in Puerto Rico
Battle Royale
A cult classic, Battle Royale (2000) is based on a book of the same name that sees a group of high school students dropped on an island and given three days to fight each other to the death before a winner is crowned. Hachijo-Kojima Island served as the setting for the film. Part of the Izu Islands, a chain of volcanic islands between 100 and 350 kilometres from Tokyo, the island is uninhabited, but its neighbour Hachijojima is a popular spot for hiking and snorkelling.
Read next: Exploring Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan’s four largest islands
Tomb Raider
The 2018 Tomb Raider reboot saw Alicia Vikander’s Lara Croft travel to the island of Yamatai after the disappearance of her father. While the movie island is meant to be in the Devil’s Sea (aka the Pacific Bermuda Triangle, near Japan), in reality, the movie was shot in Cape Town in South Africa.
The Wilds
This TV show, which ran for two seasons (2020-2022), saw a group of women stranded on a desert island after a staged plane crash, with the girls being the subject of a social experiment. In the show, the plane crashes while en route to Hawai’i, but it was actually filmed in New Zealand, on Piha Beach and Bethells Beach.
