The Last of Us is an upcoming HBO adaptation of the popular video game series that took the entire video gaming community by storm. Of course, what’s interesting about this adaptation is the fact that it takes place in a post-apocalyptic world that has become plagued with mindless infected people. In that regard, it should be interesting to see where the series was filmed. So, where was The Last of Us filmed?
The Last of Us was primarily filmed in Calgary, Alberta in Canada, probably for tax purposes. Primarily, the places used were High River and Fort Macleod. However, there were also locations in Kansas City, Missouri, that were used by the series to film the landmarks.
The reason why it is interesting to know where The Last of Us was filmed is the fact that the story of Joel and Ellie traveled quite a bit and were able to get to a lot of different places in the United States. As such, the fact that most of the series was filmed in one city is intriguing because of how it would be interesting to see how HBO was able to make the characters move from one location to another. That said, let’s look at where The Last of Us was filmed.
Where Was The Last Of Us Filmed?
One of the most popular games in recent memory is The Last of Us, which is a game series that has won numerous Game of the Year awards. The popularity of The Last of Us, which was developed by Naughty Dog, allowed it to earn itself a live-action adaptation from HBO, which is known for adapting different storylines from different sources into live-action versions (Game of Thrones, anyone?).
Of course, what makes The Last of Us one of the most intriguing series that fans are excited to watch is the fact that it is a new take on the post-apocalyptic genre that we often see in many different movies and shows. This time, however, the enemies aren’t exactly zombies but are still similar to them. In that regard, it should be another great horror-thriller series to watch if you’re into that kind of stuff.
But the thing that makes The Last of Us and its production quite interesting to those who’ve played the games is the fact that it isn’t entirely easy to execute video game adaptations due to the fact that not a lot of storylines take place in one single area. While we have seen HBO succeeding in adapting Game of Thrones by taking us to different places, it might not be as easy for The Last of Us. After all, Game of Thrones had the luxury of recreating cities and castles straight from the books instead of recreating cities that already exist.
As such, it is necessary to talk about the fact that Joel and Ellie, who are the main characters of The Last of Us, travel a lot from one place to another as they need to do so in order to survive a post-apocalyptic world. Starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, who are both alumni of Game of Thrones, The Last of Us should take us to different places if the series creators want to stay true to the source material.
In that regard, it is important to take note that Joel and Ellie went to different places like Boston, Wyoming, Pennsylvania, Seattle, Santa Barbara, and Salt Lake City during their travels. This makes the entire production of The Last of Us interesting because true fans would want to see the versions of these cities in the live-action adaptation. So, where was The Last of Us Filmed?
It might come as a surprise to the fans of the games to know that The Last of Us was filmed primarily in only one main city. We are talking about Calgary in Alberta, Canada, as this was the main filming site for the entire series. However, several areas of Calgary were used for the filming of The Last of Us. These include:
- High River
- Fort Macleod
- Rice Howard Way
- Alberta Legislature Building
- Canmore
- Southern Alberta Institute of Technology
Of course, it isn’t surprising to see a lot of different US-based movies and shows being filmed in Canada, as they can save a lot of money on taxes by doing so. This is probably the reason why Calgary was used as the main filming site for the entire The Last of Us series.
However, there were also instances where Kansas City, Missouri, was used for select sites. It is possible that these places in Kansas City were only used to capture important landmarks that the showrunners wanted to include in the series.
That means that the crew of The Last of Us was actually dedicated when it came to making sure that certain areas were given justice as far as the landmarks were concerned. And while the crew didn’t move from one city to another to truly capture the essence of the constant travels of Joel and Ellie, it should still be interesting to see how they were able to actually make it seem like the duo was traveling.
Why Wasn’t The Last Of Us Filmed In Different Locations?
Again, we stress the possibility that some fans might end up becoming surprised about the fact that The Last of Us series was not filmed in different cities despite the fact that Joel and Ellie travel from one city to another in the United States. In fact, almost the entire series was filmed in Calgary, as the crew stayed there for over a year. So, why wasn’t The Last of Us filmed in different locations?
Even though The Last of Us is said to have a budget that would allow it to become one of the most expensive series ever, the fact of the matter is that moving from one location to another is still quite expensive. That means that the crew had to find a way to make it seem like the duo of Joel and Ellie are constantly on the move without having to actually move from one city to another as far as filming is concerned.
As mentioned, a lot of different movies and shows prefer to film in Canada due to tax purposes. In that regard, it was probably the best move on the part of the showrunners to film the entire series in Calgary, as that would have allowed them to maximize the budget they had. Of course, we do believe that the crew was able to give justice to the different locations that Joel and Ellie went to, especially considering that this series has a huge budget that could rival the one that Game of Thrones had.
