Upamanyu Biswas
In the horror series ‘Teacup,’ a group of families in rural Georgia find themselves trapped in an animal ranch owned by the Chenoweth family. Maggie Chenoweth, the mother of two, runs an animal clinic on the ranch, Long Lane Animal Clinic, which becomes ground zero for a mysterious threat lurking in the woods nearby. Matters get further complicated when a blue paint line is drawn around the ranch, and its inhabitants are warned against crossing it if they want to survive. The eerie factor of the isolated locale grows as the real truth behind the entity hunting the families comes to the fore. As such, the ranch serves as both hiding and preying grounds for those gathered!
Long Lane Animal Clinic is a Fictional Ranch With No Ties to Reality
The Long Lane Animal Clinic, depicted in ‘Teacup’ season 1, is a fictional ranch created by the show’s writers, Ian McCulloch and Zoe Cooper. It is located in a rural Georgia town and is operated by the Chenoweth family, primarily Maggie and James, who live on the ranch with their children, Meryl and Arlo. After Arlo goes missing from the ranch in the nearby woods, the Chenoweth family begins noticing a whole host of mysterious events, including the presence of a man in a gas mask who prowls the premises silently. Owing to its rural atmosphere, the animals of the farm play a pivotal part in lending it a sense of believability. It is established in the early parts of the narrative that Maggie is the town vet who takes care of animals in the surrounding vicinity.
The fictional ranch has no real-life counterparts, as it was constructed from scratch by the show’s production crew on a studio soundstage in Georgia, specifically the Assembly Atlanta at 2582 Assembly Boulevard in Doraville. Several of the interior sequences of the show’s first season were shot inside the studio, while visual effects were utilized to craft the exterior background. It helped weave together the reality of the ranch in an authentic manner. Additionally, the film crew also recorded large chunks of the ranch forest scenes in real forests in and around Atlanta, Georgia. Therefore, a complex blend between controlled studio environments and natural outdoor locations provided the necessary footage to bring Long Lane’s reality to the viewers.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the show’s creator, Ian McCulloch, explained, “I wanted this show, this production to feel like the best summer camp ever. You see it on the screen — the scope of the show changed because we realized what we had and what the audience could look at, which was this beautiful forest.” As a significant portion of the horror in ‘Teacup’ is built through the atmospheric suspense, crafting an impressive primary setting was pivotal to the show’s adherence to genre conventions. It manages to accomplish this through the presentation of Long Lane Animal Clinic, which is a fictional place that cannot be found in reality.
Read More: Teacup: Where is the Peacock Show Filmed?
