Start planning your trip to these Westworld 3 filming locations in Singapore
[UDPATE Atlas has won been awarded Best Bar in Asia in The World’s 50 Best Bars 2020]
Westworld season three sees the storyline move outside of the Western theme park as the hosts seek to discover “the real world”. And what a world it is when the scenes are shot in Singapore. For the city state looks magnificent on camera with its beguiling blend of steel and glass skyscrapers and lush tropical foliage. And especially at night as the Formula One coverage has long proven and Westworld 3 displays in lingering shots of the Marina Bay area, Raffles Place skyline and the twinkling Esplanade theatre roof.
It’s this mix that caught the eye of Westworld co-creators Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan. “The goal from the beginning was to find the future. If you go out in the world the future is there, it’s in places like Singapore,” Nolan says in Westworld’s Behind the Scenes aftershow on HBO.
“There’s nowhere that looks like Singapore. There is a shape to the skyline that no other city has. There is a beautiful curvature to it that is really unique and interesting,” Joy told media during filming. “[And] It’s the ways in which nature entangles with modernity here. Singapore has done this incredible job of integrating nature into the city.”
For the most part the Lion City is mainly masquerading as a futuristic Los Angeles though it gets a name check in episode four. “Another simulation? Well this one is a bit over the top,” snaps Thandie Newton at the Atlas Bar only to be told “No Maeve, it’s Singapore.”.
While the cast Evan Rachel Wood, Jeffrey Wright and Luke Hemsworth Instagramed themselves visiting the Botanical Gardens, Haw Par Villa and Sentosa’s Adventure Cove waterpark, here are some of the key locations in episode one and beyond.
Parkroyal Collection Pickering
In the opening scenes of series 3 we catch a glimpse of this hotel close to the CBD and Chinatown in a flashback shared with Evan Rachel Wood’s Dolores (now a champagne quaffing killer in a little black dress and heels). Specifically the roof terrace with its distinctive bird cage cabanas and infinity pool. In a later episode the hotel’s exterior is shown in its full splendour, all curved lines and draped with greenery. Charlotte Hale (or whoever is inhabiting her body since she was killed at the end of series two) meets Dolores here for a martini. The interior shots of the bar and bedrooms are not the Parkroyal though – in reality these are pared back, Scandi chic. The cast and crew did however stay here during filming. Jeffrey Wright who plays Bernard posted an impressive picture of the hotel on Instagram with the caption “’Til next time, Singapore.”
Marina One
Dolores arrives in LA by futuristic looking helicopter. The building she exits though, having landed on the roof, is in actual fact in Singapore. An aerial shot focuses on a courtyard garden surrounded by multi level, loop shaped walkways. And Dolores walks through the garden (complete with three storey waterfall) when she demands: “Find me something fast.” Although it looks as if it could have been created for a dystopian fantasy, this is the Green Heart at Marina One, an exclusive condo, office and retail complex between Marina Bay and the CBD. The garden was designed to provide shade for office workers, shoppers and now presumably tourists.
SOTA
We are introduced to new character, Caleb, an ex soldier played by Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul, visiting his mother in hospital – in reality the School of the Arts (SOTA) – before leaving at the Stadium MRT station. Spectacular looking SOTA, made up of three towers connected by bridges and again dripping with foliage, is a high school dedicated to visual and performing arts. Its three performance spaces – the concert hall, the Drama Theatre and the more intimate Studio – are open to the public for performances.
Lasalle College of the Arts
Caleb seemingly attends a job interview at Lasalle’s McNally campus, noticeable for its striking multi faceted glass facade. Then in episode three Caleb and Dolores are filmed outside Lasalle following, not to give anything away, their first official introduction (but not first actual meeting which occurred in episode one’s unconventional meet cute). The college’s prominent Expression and Collaboration signs are strangely apt in the scene.
Orchard Road
When Caleb takes a phone call about his job interview against a backdrop of brightly lit designer stores and neon illuminated steps at night it’s between Wisma Atria and Ion shopping centres on Orchard Road. Sensibly Caleb is there in the evening, the best time to visit rather than during the punishing sun of the day. Had Caleb nipped inside the Ion he probably would have skipped all the cookie cutter international stores and headed to the sub basement four levels underground and Food Opera with its hawker style stalls.
The Helix
Taking another call, again at night, Caleb walks across the eye catching Helix bridge, the Singapore Flyer observation wheel just visible in the background. The pedestrian bridge links the Marina Centre waterfront with Marina Bay Sands and is so called as it’s constructed of a double Helix ie it apes the shape of a double stranded DNA molecule. At night The Helix looks particularly spectacular and futuristic as the neon LED lighting emphasises the parallel curved steel structure.
Pulau Ubin
At the close of episode one Bernard walks through a kampong before approaching a local fisherman at the jetty and asking him to take him to Westworld. The scenes were filmed on Pulau Ubin, an undeveloped island a 15 minute bum boat ride from Singapore’s Changi Point ferry terminal though a million miles away in other aspects. Pulau Ubin is a glimpse of how Singapore used to be, and a side that tourists rarely see.
Atlas Bar
Thandie Newton’s Maeve and Vincent Cassel playing new character Serac meet for a drink at the visually ravishing Atlas Bar. Maeve is still knocking back the sherry (“In the largest glass you’ve got”. Perhaps she’s heard about Singapore’s notoriously small pours) although gin and champagne are the house specialities.
“If you really wanted to impress me you’d have taken me to Paris,” she quips to Cassel. The line is doubly amusing as Atlas is a new build, designed in homage to the original Art Deco European brasseries. While it’s consistently voted one of Singapore’s favourite bars, it feels decidedly theme park-ish which makes it perfect for a Westworld location.
National Gallery Singapore
Dolores and Caleb’s visit to “the bank for a certain social set” takes place inside the National Gallery, the former Supreme Court and City Hall. The design, 19th century architecture mixed with modern additions of glass and steel, alone is worth a visit. Design and history tours take place daily during the week and twice a day at weekends. The pair’s banking transaction scene was shot in the Terrace, an event space in the Supreme Court Wing next to the Rotunda. You can actually go inside the dome as it’s a library (open Monday to Fridays except public holidays).
Visitors are also spoilt for choice for bars and restaurants here including rooftop Smoke and Mirrors where there’s a bird’s eye view of the curvaceous Singapore skyline beloved of Westworld’s creators.
Food Street
Chinatown’s Food Street is where we see Maeve meander under the red lanterns and past the roast meat and noodle stalls in episode four. (Though the beginning of the scene was actually shot over on Orchard Road with Maeve in front of Orchard Gateway and Peranakan Place). Following a multi million dollar revamp, the shophouse lined street with all weather roof is probably the most theme park-esque of all the Westworld 3 locations.
Chopstix & the City 