HBO’s upcoming The Last of Us television adaptation is set to film in Fort Macleod in Alberta, Canada, and a local union has revealed that HBO won’t be cutting any corners when it comes to recreating Naughty Dog’s extremely popular video game.
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According to International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees 212 president Damian Petti, each individual episode of the show, which will star Pedro Pascal as Joel and Bella Ramsey as Ellie, will exceed eight figures in cost. The large The Last of Us series budget will also help boost the local economy as a result.
“The Last of Us, which commences photography this week, is indeed a monster,” said Petti to CTV News. “It has five art directors and employs an army of hundreds of technicians. It has had six months of prep and shoots [in Alberta] for 12 months. I cannot confirm the official budget numbers but will say it is likely the largest project shooting in Canada. This project well exceeds the eight-figure per episode mark, so there is a multiplier effect on our economy in terms of its impact. There are hundreds of related businesses benefitting from the plethora of work.”
Fort Macleod has also been the filming place of the Fargo television series, Brokeback Mountain, and Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
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The Last of Us is executive produced and co-written by Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin and original game writer Neil Druckmann. The project is a co-production with Sony Pictures Television in association with PlayStation Productions.
Executive producers are Carolyn Strauss, Naughty Dog president Evan Wells and PlayStation Productions’ Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan. Kantermir Balagov is attached to direct the pilot episode.
