James Cameron’s deep-sea thriller demanded the impossible – and found it in an abandoned nuclear power plant in South Carolina, whose vast unfinished reactor containment became the largest underwater film set ever built at the time.
Where was The Abyss filmed?
The Abyss was filmed mainly in Gaffney, South Carolina – in the never-completed Cherokee Nuclear Power Plant – with some underwater work in a Missouri mine.
Every Abyss location, explained
The underwater set – Gaffney, South Carolina
The huge submerged scenes used the unfinished reactor containment vessels of the abandoned Cherokee Nuclear Power Plant near Gaffney, South Carolina.
The deep dives – Bonne Terre Mine
Additional underwater scenes used the flooded Bonne Terre Mine in Missouri.
The studio work – Los Angeles
Effects and miniature work used studios in Los Angeles.
The wider shoot
The production built one of the most ambitious water-filming operations ever attempted.
Planning a visit
The film’s astonishing underwater world was built inside an abandoned South Carolina nuclear plant – a one-of-a-kind piece of filmmaking history.
