Chaotic creation: New Mexico-filmed 'Obliterated' begins to stream on Netflix on Nov. 30

In July 2022, work began on the Netflix series “Obliterated.”

Three months later, the production wrapped.

Beginning Thursday, Nov. 30, the eight-episode series will begin streaming on Netflix.

Jon Hurwitz, Josh Heald and Hayden Schlossberg are the masterminds behind the series and spent months in New Mexico with the series.

The series is a high-octane action-comedy that tells the story of an elite special forces team who thwarts a deadly threat to Las Vegas, Nevada.

After their celebratory party, filled with booze, drugs and sex, the team discovers that the bomb they deactivated was a fake.

The now intoxicated team has to fight through their impairments, overcome their personal issues, find the real bomb and save the world.

According to Hurwitz, the idea was originally going to be a movie that he and Schlossberg were going to write over a decade ago.

“It started with us thinking about the kinds of heroes who anonymously and selflessly risk their lives for our country every day, while the rest of us gawk at and idolize trainwreck reality TV stars, DJs and Instagram models,” Hurwitz says in an interview. “We liked the idea of making a movie that humanized these heroes … while giving them the props and recognition they deserve. But every time we tried to write the movie version, we felt like we had way too much material for 90 minutes. We didn’t want to just tell the story of the commando or the CIA agent. We wanted to spend equal time focusing on the rest of the team — the helicopter pilot, the tech specialist, the bomb deactivator. It wasn’t until we were making ‘Cobra Kai’ that we realized our vision for ‘Obliterated’ would work much better as a streaming series.”

Chaotic creation: New Mexico-filmed 'Obliterated' begins to stream on Netflix on Nov. 30

The series stars Shelley Hennig, Nick Zano, C. Thomas Howell, Kimi Rutledge, Paola Lázaro, Terrence Terrell, Alyson Gorske and Eugene Kim.

Hennig plays Ava Winters, a CIA lead agent who likes to play by the book while overseeing an elite Special Forces team.

Zano plays Chad McKnight, the head of an elite SEAL team who loves him despite his reputation for being a wild guy on and off the job.

Gorske plays Lana, a Vegas party girl swept up along for the ride with the special forces team.

Howell is Haggerty, the eccentric Army Explosives technician.

Kim plays Paul Yung, an Air Force pilot embedded with our team and, after a wild night of partying, the only one sober.

Lázaro portrays Angela Gomez, a badass Marine sniper who is the best in her field.

Terrell is Trunk, a Navy SEAL and ultimate wingman to McKnight.

Amalia Yoo plays Maya Choi, a young NSA tech expert in the field for the first time and wildly out of her element.

Schlossberg is known for writing and directing R-rated comedies such as “Harold & Kumar,” and wanted to go in a different direction with the series.

“Our heroes in ‘Obliterated’ have their own storylines and arcs and each episode ends in a cliffhanger,” Schlossberg says.

According to the NM Film Office, principal photography continued through Oct. 2022, in and around Albuquerque.

The production employed approximately 350 New Mexico crew members, 25 New Mexico principal actors, and approximately 2,000 New Mexico background talent, according to the film office.

Though the series is set in Las Vegas, the production team worked out of Netflix Studios in Albuquerque.

Hurwitz says the team’s dream was to film the entire show in Las Vegas, to properly capture the authenticity.

“But we quickly realized we could stretch the dollar and put a lot more on screen by filming mostly in Albuquerque,” Hurwitz says “Locations like the party suite, Koslov’s penthouse, and the interior of the party bus were filmed on our stages in New Mexico with Las Vegas playing on a video wall in the background. When we were on those sets, you truly felt like we were in Las Vegas. It was surreal. But we did actually film in Vegas for almost a month and it shows. Most days, we actually had two full units shooting at once, so we could capture as much real Vegas as possible. There’s no way to fake the Las Vegas Strip, Fremont Street, Drai’s dayclub, Caesars Palace, or the other half dozen casinos we featured without shooting the real deal.”