Game of Thrones films scenes in Alberta

“I just spent the weekend with the DoP of Game of Thrones in Banff,” said Michael Jorgensen, chair of the Alberta Media Production Industries Association, in comments to Canadian news outlet Global News.

“It turns out Alberta has the biggest wolves in the world, so they’ve shot a little bit here,” said Jorgensen of the Banff shoot.

“There’s a real opportunity for us to bring bigger productions like we have in the past – the Unforgivens, the Brokeback Mountains, Interstellar most recently and The Revenant – that bring in a lot of money, employ a lot of people and touch a lot of areas of the Alberta economy – restaurants, hotels, rental cars, carpenters, labourers.”

Alberta’s production profile is also rising through the success of locally-filmed shows like the TV adaptation of Fargo, and Calgary now offers a purpose-built film studio. However, the province’s broader appeal is hamstrung by a grant funding system that is capped at just CA$5m per shoot.

Game of Thrones has been based in Northern Ireland since its launch in 2011, but has also filmed internationally in countries like Iceland, Croatia, and Spain.

For more on filming in Alberta see our production guide.

Image: HBO