Where is the Last of Us filmed? HBO series’ filming locations explained - was it shot in Canada?

HBO’s new series The Last of Us takes place across an America ravaged by a fungal pandemic.

Starting with Joel Miller, his brother Tommy and daughter Sarah in Austin, Texas, it jumps forward 20 years to a quarantine zone in Boston. The characters will then set out on an epic journey out west for a quest that could change everything.

The Last of Us is HBO’s first video game adaption and will air in the prime Sunday night slot in the US. The first episode will be released on 15 January in America and 16 January in EU/UK.

Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey headline the cast as Joel and Ellie with Gabriel Luna, Anna Torv, Bill Offerman, Merle Dandridge, Murray Bartlett and more. There will be nine episodes in total and it will be available on Sky Atlantic, as well as Now TV, in the UK.

But where exactly did the HBO series film? Here is all you need to know:

Where is The Last of Us set?

The video game and the HBO show both take place in America, or what is left of them after a deadly fungal pandemic wipes out most of society. The story takes place in major cities like Boston, Salt Lake City and Pittsburgh (in the PlayStation game)/. Kansas City in the show as well as towns like Jackson, Wyoming.

The Last of Us Part II is also set in America, taking place mostly in Seattle. But the series is adapting just the original game in its first season.

Where did HBO film the show?

Despite being set in America, the majority of the series was actually filmed in Canada. ScreenRant reports that the majority of the filming took place in and around Calgary, Alberta.

The scenes filmed in downtown Calgary was used for some scenes as a stand-in for the Boston quarantine zone. Other filming locations in Alberta were:

• High River - a town in the Calgary metropolitan area
• Northland Village Mall - in Calgary
• Fort Macleod - town in Alberta - used as a stand-in for Austin, TX
• Edmonton - another city in Alberta, also used as stand-in for Boston
• Canmore - a town west of Calgary, it was used as a stand-in for Jackson, Wymoning
• Southern Alberta Institute of Technology

The only scenes filmed in the United States took place at the end of the shoot, HBO crews filmed on Interstate 435 in Kansas City. The road runs through both Missouri and Kansas.

What is the Last of Us about?

Based on the best-selling video game released originally on the PlayStation 3 in 2013, it tells the story of Joel and Ellie. It is HBO’s first video game adaption.

On the HBO website, the description of the show reads: “The series takes place 20 years after modern civilization has been destroyed. Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.”