After the seventh episode of The Last of Us was filmed almost entirely in an abandoned Calgary mall, the eighth episode is all about the outdoors.
Specifically, the series’ latest (and penultimate) episode, “When We Are In Need,” takes place in the snowy wilds of Colorado and was actually shot at Alberta’s Waterton Park. Bella Ramsey, who plays Ellie in the series, had namedropped the hamlet in an interview with MobileSyrup, but we now get to see it in action.
Photos from the set of The Last of Us in Waterton Village.
Lakeside Resort:
"The cars had Colorado plates on them."📷 joecarter93 pic.twitter.com/YAoWOfTcfr
— The Last of Us News (@TheLastofUsNews) February 15, 2022
One establishing shot, in particular, spotlights Waterton Lakes National Park, per the screen industry advocacy group Keep Alberta Rolling.
That’s @WatertonLakesNP if I’ve ever seen it #TheLastofUs #FilmFriendlySWAlberta pic.twitter.com/0hpZkfK94T
— Keep Alberta Rolling 🎥✨ (@KeepABRolling) March 6, 2023
In the latest episode, Ellie’s hunt for food for her and an injured Joel (Pedro Pascal) leads her to encounter two strangers, David (Scott Shepherd) and James (Troy Baker, who played Joel in The Last of Us video games). Without spoiling anything, let’s just say they don’t become friends.
Interestingly, though, David and James belong to a larger community of survivors who live in an abandoned resort. In a later scene between Ellie and David, the two can be spotted in a place called Todd’s Steakhouse. Notably, the exterior of this set is Lakeside Chophouse, the only Waterton restaurant by the lake.
Other real-life places Albertans spotted include the Thirsty Bear socialhouse and Trappers Mountain Grill.
Over the course of the last several weeks, one of the highlights of The Last of Us for Canadians has been to see where all of the episodes have been filmed in Alberta. It remains to be seen where, exactly, the March 12th finale was filmed, so we’ll have to keep an eye out.
It should be noted that The Last of Us has been renewed for a second season, although there hasn’t been any official word about the production returning to Alberta. For now, though, we can admire the beautiful landscapes and production designer John Paino’s sets.
The Last of Us is now streaming exclusively on Crave in Canada.
Image credit: HBO
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