How ‘Thai Cave Rescue’ Digs Deeper Into Miraculous Soccer Team Rescue

Chances are you’ve heard the harrowing story of the Wild Boars soccer team. A group of 12 players, ages 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach spent roughly three weeks trapped inside Thailand’s Tham Luang cave before being evacuated by an international team of heroes who never gave up on them. The 2018 ordeal captured the hearts and minds of the world, and has been retold in both documentaries and dramatizations that include the recent Ron Howard Prime Video movie Thirteen Lives.

The upcoming Thai Cave Rescue digs a little deeper as a Netflix limited series. Shot entirely in Thailand with locals as part of the cast, the production even filmed inside the homes of those who lived through it. Writer and showrunner Dana Ledoux Miller (Designated Survivor, Narcos, Kevin Can F**k Himself) is most proud of the authenticity the six episodes bring.

“I think this show has a lot for everyone. It is full of suspense and action, but at its core, it’s a family drama,” she explains to TV Insider. “There are universal themes of faith, hope, grief, and loss…. This a story that reminds us it’s still possible for people to come together and do something good. It’s a story of hope.”

Ledoux Miller takes us behind the scenes and goes into the challenges of re-creating real-life events.

Sasidis Sasisakulporn/Netflix

At what point did you feel that this was made for a limited series?

Everyone was bouncing around the idea. Is this a series? Is this a movie? When cocreator Michael Russell Gunn and I came on, we really started to dig into the material. We’d both seen it on the news with the rest of the world and were riveted. We started to read books and interview people. We realized there was so much emotion, so many people whose lives were changed forever, [both] inside and outside the cave, that we felt there was a lot to explore. There were different themes, and the rescue itself has so many different facets. We really pushed having a series as opposed to a movie. We wanted to do right by the people involved. Netflix has been supportive the entire way. 

There is so much pressure when you are telling a real-life story. How was it putting together the cast and making sure you were getting it right?

Shout-out to our Thai casting team! It’s amazing the boys they brought us. I believe only one of them had ever acted before. They are the heart and soul of our show. It’s a huge responsibility, and it has this added level of pressure when the people involved are very much alive. Michael and I started to meet and interview everyone involved. We wish we could have told even more stories. Truly, at every stage of our research, from the boys to the governor to the military to the foreigners, everyone had this incredible story and was changed by the experience. We wanted to tell a compelling rescue story. At the same time, we wanted to really dig into what it is like to go through an experience like this. 

Sasidis Sasisakulporn/Netflix

Was there one aspect you were excited to depict that hadn’t really been explored?

What the boys went through inside the cave. Listening to them tell their stories, I was really moved by their ability to laugh through the darkness. The pranks they were playing on each other and the songs they were singing kept their spirits up. I think there is something so powerful about that as a coping mechanism. Most of the humor on our show comes from real stories they told us. Tragedy is not always bleak. So much of the human spirit and survival is finding the light in the darkness. As a parent, I also gravitated toward the parents. I couldn’t imagine what it was like for them. They are often overlooked and never spoken about, but they were right there every day for 18 days. They were so close yet so far from their children and not knowing if they were going to live or die. It takes a toll. 

The rescue scenes really grip you. What went into re-creating those suspenseful moments?

We had an amazing set design team. The opening to the cave, we shot on location. We had stunt guys go in a little bit more. When we were shooting there, though, it was actually flooded, so you couldn’t go very far into the caves. The stunt guys would go in and do some of the action in the water.

Most of it was built on a stage. The art director and some of our production team spent two weeks researching and scanning to re-create the areas on the stages. That was combined with an incredible visual effects team. We worked to have story and realism live together. 

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What did it mean for you to have those who lived through the ordeal open their homes to you and believe in the project?

It means everything. I came home from Thailand, and the first thing I said to my husband was “I will never have another experience like this again.” It was so moving to be part of something that means so much to so many people. It was an honor. I don’t take that responsibility lightly. I’m really excited for the show to come out, mostly because I want our crew and the people of Thailand to see it. I hope they love it and they feel like we together created something special. 

Sasidis Sasisakulporn/Netflix

I feel with this series, the dubbing was just as important as the acting and getting that right.

Kudos to Netflix. When we pitched them, we said we wanted to do it in the language spoken at the time because it played such a huge role in communication. They were all for it. Then it became, “We don’t want to do it just in Thai. We want to do it in the dialects of Thai that were being spoken.” That added a whole new level of complication I am in no hurry to do again. It really lends itself to making the experience better…. It’s really nuanced. As challenging as it was, I’m so glad we took it on. When you talk about authenticity, it’s not good enough to do it halfway. 

“Beam” Papangkorn Lerkchaleampote, who plays Coach Ek, passed away in March. What do you remember about him on set?

He was a very special human being…. He took the role so seriously from the start. He felt a real responsibility to Coach Ek. From the moment he got the role, he would do all he could to learn all he could. We told him most of these boys had never been on a set before—that as the coach of the team, they would look to him for guidance and support. It’s because of him that they really bonded and became a little family. The show owes a debt of gratitude to him. He gives such an amazing performance. I’m grateful to be part of his legacy. 

Thai Cave Rescue, Series premiere, Thursday, September 22, Netflix