The Canadian Rockies stood in for the American frontier in Brokeback Mountain and Legends of the Fall. Leonardo DiCaprio earned his Oscar wading through the rivers and snowfields of Alberta in The Revenant.
On the small screen, Heartland has always called southern Alberta's ranch country home while HBO's The Last of Us turned Alberta into post-apocalyptic landmarks.
In Alberta, you can drive from the mountains to dinosaur-bone badlands to working ranches in just hours—landscapes you can't fake on a soundstage.
This page is your guide to the films and shows shot in Alberta.
Curious what movies and TV shows have been filmed around Alberta? Here are some of the best-known productions shot in Alberta over the years.
The tear-jerker cowboy love story used the Foothills and ranchlands south of Calgary and the mountains of Kananaskis as its emotional landscape.
DiCaprio's brutal survival epic was shot across Kananaskis and the Bow Valley with a stint at Horseshoe Canyon in the Canadian Badlands.
There were ghosts to be busted across Alberta, including Horsethief Canyon in the Canadian Badlands and Lougheed House in Calgary.
Christopher Nolan turned southern Alberta's fields and small-town stadiums into a near-future America on the brink.
Brad Pitt's sweeping family saga is set in Montana, but the Bow River, Banff National Park, and the Ghost River Wilderness Area are doing the heavy lifting on screen.
The Colleen Hoover novel adaptation was shot almost entirely in southern Alberta Foothills. Calgary, Nanton, Bragg Creek, High River and Longview co-star with dreamy mountain views.
HBO's adaptation of the cult video game made Alberta its post-pandemic America—and the largest film production in the province's history.
The Netflix hit about a New York teen sent to "rural Colorado" is actually shot across Calgary, Bragg Creek, Cochrane and Kananaskis Country.
The Netflix K-drama filmed across Calgary's skyline, Heritage Park, Stephen Avenue, the Canadian Badlands, Banff and Canmore in golden autumn. It’s a love letter to Alberta.
The beloved CBC family drama has been filmed here since 2007, with the ranchlands and town of High River playing the fictional community of Hudson.
The final season of HBO's epic brought a Calgary-based unit out to Banff and the surrounding mountains for some of the show's most iconic snow sequences.
The cult sci-fi western shot in and around Calgary, with Didsbury's main street and the Foothills doing much of the on-screen heavy lifting.
Few shows are as inseparable from their setting as Heartland. Now nearing two decades on the air, Heartland has spent every season in the rolling Rocky Mountain Foothills south of Calgary.
Filming anchors around High River (the real-life Hudson), the Millarville area, and Inglewood in Calgary. Head to High River yourself and peer through the window of Maggie’s Diner or visit the Museum of the Highwood to see some props from the show.
When HBO needed a world that felt both achingly familiar and utterly transformed, it came here. The Last of Us Season 1 sprawled across more than 180 locations in the province—an unprecedented scale for an Alberta shoot. In fact, it was the biggest-budget TV production to ever shoot in Canada.
Downtown Calgary played a quarantined Boston, Fort Macleod’s main street was featured in the opening of the series, and the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton had a cameo.
Read more: Explore Alberta Locations in HBO's The Last of Us
Banff National Park, Kananaskis Country, Canmore and the Bow Valley have stood in for everything from frontier America to alien worlds. Fortress Mountain in Kananaskis is a heavy hitter—a cat-skiing area turned alpine stage that production crews keep finding new ways to reinvent.
Filmed in the Rockies: The Last of Us · The Revenant · Inception · Legends of the Fall · Game of Thrones · Jumanji: The Next Level · The Bourne Legacy · The Dinosaurs
Wide-open ranchland and charming small towns south and west of Calgary form the heart of Alberta's western on-screen identity. High River, Millarville, Nanton, Longview, Bragg Creek, Cochrane and Didsbury are where TV families set down roots and movie towns come to life.
Filmed in Alberta’s Foothills: Heartland · My Life with the Walter Boys · Wynonna Earp · Reminders of Him · Brokeback Mountain · The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford · Anna Pigeon · Unforgiven
In the southeast corner of Alberta, the Drumheller-area Canadian Badlands deliver landscapes so unearthly that screenwriters keep writing them in. Seeing the region's striking canyons with your own eyes might just inspire you to write a story of your own.
Filmed in the Canadian Badlands: Can This Love Be Translated? · Ghostbusters: Afterlife · Let Him Go · Brokeback Mountain · Superman III · Shanghai Noon · Rat Race · Hell on Wheels · The Revenant
Calgary is Alberta's production hub—the studios, the crews, the streetscapes that double as anywhere from 1880s Missouri to post-apocalyptic Boston. The historic and charming Inglewood neighbourhood is a particularly popular backdrop.
Filmed in Calgary: Brokeback Mountain · The Last of Us · Fargo · Superman III · Cool Runnings · Can This Love Be Translated? · Interstellar · Hell on Wheels · Ghostbusters: Afterlife · My Life with the Walter Boys · Young Drunk Punk
Some of the famous movies filmed in Alberta include:
The Canadian Rockies, the Foothills south of Calgary, and the Drumheller-area Canadian Badlands are some of the iconic Alberta landscapes filmmakers come back to again and again.
Dozens of TV shows have been filmed in Alberta and the list keeps growing.
Recent and long-time favourite shows filmed in whole or in part in Alberta include:
You can explore Alberta filming locations from Netflix shows on the Netflix in Your Neighbourhood website.
Heartland is filmed in the foothills and ranchlands south of Calgary in the High River and Milarville area.
The main Heartland ranch itself is private property and not open to the public—but the town that plays Hudson on screen is very much open for visitors. Wander High River's main streets, drop into the Museum of the Highwood to see props from the series, and drive the same backroads that open every episode.
The Last of Us was filmed across southern Alberta, with key locations clustered in Calgary, Edmonton, Canmore, Waterton Lakes National Park, the Highwood, the prairies near Fort Macleod, and the Canadian Badlands. Season 2 added the alpine slopes of Fortress Mountain in Kananaskis Country.
Many of these places are easy to visit on a road trip—follow our Last of Us itinerary to find them.
There's almost always something currently filming in Alberta. Heartland has shot 20 seasons in southern Alberta and shows no signs of slowing down. The province sees a steady stream of big-budget and independent features, TV series and streaming productions year-round.
The following TV series productions were recently filmed in Alberta:
For an up-to-date peek at what's shooting right now, the best source is ACTRA Alberta, which the local performers' union keeps current.
Want to make Alberta the setting of a film or television show? One of your best resources is the Alberta Film Commission. The Alberta Film Commission can provide support with identifying locations that fit each project, provide connections to local crews and studios, and more.
Alberta offers tax credits and funds to support the film industry in the province. The Alberta Film Commission can help producers from around the world understand what incentives are available to them.
Alberta Film Commission: Funding and incentives for film projects
Step into the world of HBO’s The Last of Us and discover the Alberta landscapes that brought this acclaimed series to life.
Explore the jaw-dropping Canadian locations where "Can This Love Be Translated?" was filmed, including Banff, Calgary and Drumheller.