The first full-length trailer of The Last of Us has revealed the first glimpses of Alberta-shot scenes in HBO's adaptation of the apocalyptic video game.
After watching film crews take over parts of their communities in 2021, Albertans saw on Monday for the first time how their backyards may appear on the TV screen.
The one-minute-38-second long trailer, which had been viewed 15 millions times on Twitter by the next day, teases the story of a smuggler tasked with escorting a teenage girl across the United States after it was ravaged by an outbreak.
Here are are some frames that appear to have been shot in Alberta:
(Source: YouTube / HBO Max)
Nineteen seconds into the trailer, a vehicle leaves what may turn out to be one of the post-apocalyptic world's quarantine zones.
The site's gate boasts a giant painted "Welcome" sign above its entrance – exactly like a set built in Calgary's Ramsay Community earlier this year.
(Source: David Frid)
The set remained up for weeks, until right before the city's world-famous Stampede returned this summer.
Film industry fan and Calgarian David Frid photographed production crews dismantling it.
(Source: YouTube / HBO Max)
This shot of characters Joel and Ellie crossing what is believed to be the Canmore Engine Bridge has been used in promotional material by HBO before.
According to HistoricBridges.org, the double-trussed bridge was built in 1891 by the Canadian Pacific Railway to serve a coal mine and is characterized by the vertical end posts.
The bridge and its Rocky Mountain backdrop are well photographed.
Canmore is located 100 kilometres west of Calgary.
(Source: YouTube / HBO Max)
In October 2021, The Last of Us production took over 104 Street in downtown Edmonton. Vehicles appeared haphazardly abandoned down the lane, and buildings taken over by vines.
Could the street have been turned into downtown Boston, where part of The Last of Us is set?
Edmonton's 104 Street features a number of brick buildings, as the disaster scene in the trailer does.
(Source: Google Street View)
Alternatively, The Last of Us production team spent some time filming in Calgary's Victoria Park community. 11 Avenue SE also features similar brick buildings.
(Source: David Frid)
Either way, fans believe the crumbling skyscraper in the trailer is meant to be the video game's Goldstone Building.
(Source: YouTube / HBO Max)
While officials never said which production closed Calgary's Airport Tunnel in March, a shot from The Last of Us trailer suggests it could have been HBO.
Behind Pedro Pascal's character lies the expected rubble and debris of an apocalypse. And behind that is a piece of infrastructure that looks similar to the eastbound entrance of Airport Tunnel, west of 36 Street NE.
As the series premieres in 2023, more Alberta-shot scenes are due to be revealed. According to the Internet Movie Database, The Last of Us filmed in 13 locations across the province.
In October 2021, production crews transformed the Alberta Legislature to fit the TV show's post-apocalyptic setting. Pascal was spotted by downtown onlookers on the set.
By the looks of this teaser, filming also took place at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in Calgary.
Frid took these pictures of sets on the 4th Avenue flyover and Memorial Drive in Calgary and Canmore.
(Source: David Frid)
(Source: David Frid)
And viewers should expect scenes shot at Kananaskis' Wedge pond:
As well, the High River community Beachwood community – which was abandoned in real life after a flood in 2013 – is expected to appear.
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