Chris Hemsworth shocks locals in remote town as he makes surprise Northern Territory school visit via helicopter

Chris Hemsworth shocked Northern Territory locals when he made a surprise visit to a remote town on Thursday.

The Australian actor, 40, made a surprise arrival in Beswick as he landed in VIP style via helicopter while on his way to film in his former hometown of Bulman.

Photographs shared to social media by Wugularr School showed the Hollywood star posing for photographs with excited students and teachers during the visit.

He cut a casual figure in a black vest top and shorts as he was mobbed by crowds of excited locals who flocked out en masse for the chance to meet him.

Alongside the sweet snaps of the Thor actor smiling with locals, Wugularr School told how he spent 30 minutes chatting with local residents before heading off again.

'What an exciting morning we have had in Beswick,' they gushed in a Facebook post.

'The whole community saw him land on the oval in a helicopter and then he spent the next 30 minutes saying hello and getting photos – so exciting to see a movie star in our little community.'

His surprise visit came as he was travelling to Bulman - where he lived as a child - to film the second series of his Disney+ documentary Limitless.

Chris and his family split their time between Melbourne, where he was born, and Bulman when he was growing up, and he previously told how some of his earliest memories are of the remote town.

'My earliest memories were on the cattle stations up in the Outback, and then we moved back to Melbourne and then back out there and then back again,' he recalled.

Chris is now returning to his roots to film Limitless, after the first series saw him try and discover how to live better for longer, speaking to world-class experts as well as his family and friends.

While filming the debut series, Chris found out that he is 'between eight and 10 times' likelier to develop Alzheimer's than the general population.

After having bloodwork done for the program, he was informed he is more likely to develop Alzheimer's because he is one of only two to three percent of people with two copies of the gene APOE4.

'For me, the positive of it was like: "Right, if I didn't know this information, I wouldn't have made the changes I made,"' he said of the shock news.

'I just wasn't aware of any of it, so now I feel thankful that I have in my arsenal the sort of tools to best prepare myself and prevent things happening in that way.'

Chris emotionally told how he fears developing the illness and forgetting his wife Elsa Pataky and their kids - daughter India, 10, and twin sons Sasha and Tristan, eight.

'The idea that I won't be able to remember the life I've experienced, or my wife, my kids, is probably my biggest fear,' he said.

According to Woman's Day magazine, the sudden discovery has inspired him to write a memoir to immortalise his legacy.

A friend told the publication: 'His biggest worry was his family and knowing there will be a day when his kids will be looking after him. It's given him a much deeper perspective on life.'

The friend told Woman's Day that the Hollywood actor will be employing a CAA ghostwriter to help with the penning of the book. 

'Chris started jotting down ideas for his book after his 40th last August, but things weren't that serious until last week, when he hired one of LA's top literary agents,' a source added.