TV hit 'The Last of Us' expected to bring more filming opportunities to Alberta

Actors Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, who play Joel and Ellie on HBO's hit show "The Last of Us," are shown in Alberta's Kananaskis Valley in this handout image. The show was filmed at 180 locations across Alberta and is one of the largest filming productions to have been shot in the province. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-HBO-Liane Hentscher)

The HBO TV series "The Last of Us" has not only made many Albertans proud to recognize their province on screen, but the wildly popular post-apocalyptic show is also expected to bring in more filming opportunities.

Alberta is no stranger to the film industry, with movies "The Revenant," "Interstellar" and "Brokeback Mountain" also shot in the province.

With "The Last of Us" achieving paramount success, Travel Alberta says it's anticipating more filmmakers will want to use the province's diverse landscape for shooting.

Vice-president of Travel Alberta Tannis Gaffney says it's also hoping for an increase in tourism.

"We're optimistic for a busy summer season in Alberta and we're hoping this is going to add more interest and more destination awareness," said Gaffney. "Not necessarily just for Canadians, but we're hoping that this really reaches the American audience and U.S. travellers because our U.S. travellers stay for longer and spend more."

Travel Alberta has a map on its website that shows all 180 locations where "The Last of Us" was filmed and provides an itinerary for travellers to check out during their vacations.

"We've been so excited about putting these sort of hidden gems on a map that you wouldn't necessarily know," said Gaffney, adding one of them is the town of Fort Macleod about 170 kilometres south of Calgary.

Gaffney said that "The Last of Us" is one of the biggest filming productions in Alberta's history, matching similar production levels to "Game of Thrones."

Jessica Rovansek, who lives in Calgary and is a Southern Alberta Institute of Technology alum, worked on post-production of the show. The campus was also used for some scenes.

"It's really like the first time that we got to do this for a big production company," said Rovansek.

As a big fan of the video game that "The Last of Us" is based on, Rovansek also said having that personal connection was fulfilling.

Rovansek said she's now working on the TV show "Fargo" as a direct result of working on "The Last of Us."

About half of the sixth episode of "The Last of Us" was filmed at Mount Royal University in Calgary, said Brent Mann, director of Event, Theatre and Hospitality Services at the school.

"It’s really a huge accomplishment for the university and for this city to be able to meet the requirements they’re looking for," said Mann. "We're all pretty happy about it."

Mann said that over the last few weeks, the university had others approach it for filming opportunities and it has done site tours with some production companies.

During the pandemic, Mann said the school was looking for ways to make extra revenue and turned to the film industry.

"We’ve got some pretty incredible architecture that spans multiple decades here. So that always seems to be of great interest to those who are doing any kind of project that is film or television."

Mann said what started out as a minor inconvenience for students and faculty turned out to have a positive effect on the campus community.

"I think any time you're connected to something that is so popular, it gives you a little bit of cachet, a little swagger," he said. "Students are proud of it. I sit in five meetings a day and it comes up in every one."

"The Last of Us" season finale is scheduled to air Sunday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 11, 2023.

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.