Vancouver Island has been featured in many movies and TV series. Movies such as Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol, and The Twilight Saga: New Moon were all shot here. As was the long-running TV series Supernatural.
Credit: AppleTV+
The latest TV series to feature VanIsle is the Apple TV+ show See, starring Jason Momoa.
You may remember Jason Momoa as Khal Drogo, the chieftain of nomadic horseman Dothraki on The Game of Thrones. Momoa also starred as Aquaman after making his screen debut in Baywatch.
Momoa’s new show is set 600 years in the future after a deadly virus outbreak killed most of the population. The surviving humans have lost their sense of sight and have been forced to adapt new ways to survive.
Suddenly everything changes when a set of twins with sight is born.
in BladeRunner 2049
Credit: rogerebert.com
In See, Momoa once again plays a chieftain. Momoa’s character takes in and marries a pregnant woman who soon gives birth to “sighted” twins. But, when word spreads of the miracle, the powers that be set out to kill them and Momoa must fight to protect his family.
Written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight and directed by Francis Lawrence (The Hunger Games, Red Sparrow), season one also featured Sylvia Hoeks.
Hoeks is known for her portrayal of the Nexus-9 model replicant Luv in Blade Runner 2049. She also starred in The Girl in the Spider’s Web.
Guardians of the Galaxy
Credit: Screenshot from Guardians of the Galaxy
Season two, which premiers on August 27, features David Bautista from Guardians of the Galaxy and Oscar and Emmy award winner Alfre Woodard.
Many of See‘s outdoor scenes were filmed around Campbell River. Filming shut down Ralph River Campground on the shore of Buttle Lake in Strathcona Provincial Park for all of October 2019.
Myra Falls also features prominently in many scenes.
Producing See was a huge operation with elaborate sets and lots of extras. As a result, the show spent lots of money filming in the NorthIsle.
In fact, The Wall Street Journal reported that each episode cost nearly $15 million. That is as much as every episode of the final season of Game of Thrones. The 8-episode season two reportedly cost nearly $120 million, or nearly as much as a big-budget Hollywood movie.
Credit: Wikipedia
If AppleTV+ picked up the show for season three, Islanders were eager for the new influx of cash and excitement filming the new season would bring. It would be a big boost to the region after the hardships of COVID.
Islanders were disappointed. While Apple did greenlight another season, they announced it would be filmed in Ontario.
But locals can still look forward to watching nearby landmarks on screen again when season two streams in a couple of weeks.
