HBO’s “The Last of Us” is notable for its impeccable production design, stunning cinematography, and its remarkable use of its locations to bring the post-apocalyptic world of the video games to life. The series features a lived-in, rugged, and vast reimagination of what becomes of America as the cordyceps fungus spreads, and filming on location helps bring that world to life in the prestige HBO drama series.
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Although “The Last of Us” is set in the US, filming for both seasons primarily took place in Canada. Numerous locations were repurposed to recreate some of the series’ most notable settings, many of which were faithful recreations of the worlds that the games introduced in both Parts I and II. With two seasons of “The Last of Us” now complete, here’s a look at some of the series’ major locations and how they were effectively used to immerse viewers into the cutthroat, heartbreaking, and occasionally tender world of “The Last of Us.”
Locations in Alberta, Canada, were used for Austin, Boston, Kansas City, and Jackson
“The Last of Us” season 1 was filmed primarily in Alberta from July 2021 to June 2022. The series is one of the most expensive ever produced, with the first season costing around CA$100 million for ten episodes. The money was in full display for the first season, which used locations in Alberta to recreate four main settings: Austin, TX; Boston, MA; Kansas City, MO; and Jackson, WY.
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The first season was very faithful to the original video game, with the story opening in Austin, TX, 20 years before the main story takes place. The pilot episode meets Joel Miller (Pedro Pascal) living a normal life in Austin with his 12-year-old daughter, Sarah (Nico Parker), before tragedy strikes and sets the story in motion. Fort MacLeod, a town in southern Alberta, was used to recreate Austin. Most notably, Fort MacLeod’s Main Street was where the series premiere’s driving sequence was filmed.
Alberta’s major cities, Edmonton and Calgary, were used to bring Boston to life. Downtown Calgary doubled as the present-day quarantine zone in Boston, MA, and the Alberta Legislature building was used to recreate the Massachusetts State House, while Calgary’s Hotel Arts was used to recreate the Boston Museum. Calgary was also the filming location for scenes set in Kansas City, MO, which replaced the Pittsburgh, PA, setting from the video game. Locations including a Globe Cinema and the tunnel opening of the Airport Trail in Northeast Calgary were used for the post-apocalyptic Kansas City.
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Post-Apocalyptic Seattle was created in Vancouver
Much of “The Last of Us” season 2 is set in the ruins of Seattle, WA, where Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Dina (Isabela Merced) embark on their journey to avenge Joel’s death. To bring post-apocalyptic Seattle to life, the production used Vancouver, British Columbia, to stand in for it. Downtown Eastside was used for sequences involving soldiers and military vehicles. Other notable Vancouver locations that were used to recreate Seattle include the Chinatown neighborhood of Stanley Park, and the Orpheum Theatre, where Ellie and Dina find refuge after Dina breaks the news of her pregnancy to Ellie.
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One sequence, featuring a run-in with the infected in Seattle’s subway tunnels, was so complex that it took a week to film. Cinematographer Catherine Goldschmidt told TV Guide that this sequence wasn’t filmed on location or on a sound stage, but in “a very long, thin building where the walls are actually tiled, so they knew they could dress it to look like a train station.” The train cars, though, were real; The Daily Hive confirmed that the production used Vancouver’s retired Mark I SkyTrain cars, redressing them with Seattle transit branding.
Other notable locations include Gastown and the Vancouver Aquarium, the latter of which was repurposed as the Seattle Aquarium for the second season finale. Nanaimo, British Columbia, was also used for some of the backdrop for Seattle, much of which features sequences of Ellie and Dina riding on horseback together.
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Both seasons share specific roots in Calgary
Towards the end of the first season, Joel and Ellie settle in Jackson, WY, in the same commune led by Joel’s brother Tommy Miller (Gabriel Luna) and his wife, Maria Miller (Rutina Wesley). “The Last of Us” season 2 picks up five years later, catching viewers up on Joel and Ellie’s lives in the safe haven of Jackson. In the meantime, Seattle has become a dangerous war zone where the threat of the Infected and perhaps the most unsettling threat, the Seraphites, are both afoot.
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For the first season, scenes set in the town of Jackson were filmed in Canmore, Alberta. In season 2 the production used Britannia Beach, which is 40 miles north of Vancouver, to replicate the snowy setting of the safe haven. Although production on the second season moved primarily to British Columbia, previous Alberta locations — particularly the city of Calgary — were reused from season 1. For sequences that required snowier environments, production took place in Exshaw, Alberta. To capture the snowcapped setting they filmed at Highway 1A, which, according to Time Out, was closed for approximately three days to accommodate filming.
The first two seasons of “The Last of Us” are available to stream on HBO Max.
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