Lost in Space films British Columbia locations

“We are blessed with dozens of wilderness locales within the studio zone,” says Michael John Gazetas, the show’s location manager, in comments to KFTV.

“Some key standing sets were constructed in more remote-access wilderness sites about one or two hours outside of Vancouver – specifically Watts Quarry and the eleven-kilometre plateau in the Lower Seymour Conservation Forest, near the Seymour River dam.

“Lynn Canyon Park, in North Vancouver, was another key location for many of the forest and waterfall scenes.

“Second Unit did a series of shoots in remote mountain locations such as Mt Garibaldi and Manning Park, and for the majority of the desert sequences we were at the CN Ranch, just outside of Cache Creek, which is close to Kamloops.”

Location filming was complicated by a production schedule that coincided with one of British Columbia’s worst winters in recent years.

“Normally, Vancouver is a mild climate with one or two mild snowfalls,” says Gazetas. “But we suffered five different extended blizzards and a very late spring, so battling the elements was the main challenge: snow, flooding, mud bogs, crazy rain, hail, sleet, bugs (ticks in particular), bears, more snow and then some more snow.

“I think at one point, production had over a dozen rugged four-by-fours outfitted with tire chains just so we could access some sites for director and tech scouts."

“In terms of the look for our ‘lost planet’, our creative team wanted us to find ways of accessing the most pristine, yet ‘shootable’ locations," says Gazetas.

"We were constantly building roads, re-building roads and staging pads. It was like a military engineering project in most of our locations, often with one to two weeks of intense prep work required to prepare for the logistics for a crew of more than 200 and all our gear.”

Sometimes the production team incorporated the natural weather conditions into the shoot. In other instances, roads had to be cleared and trucks pulled from the snow, or the crew had to alter the schedule and switch to studio work until outside conditions improved.

Last year Vancouver was Canada’s top production hub, with filming on international shoots surging by nearly 50%. Increased commissioning from SVoD platforms like Amazon and Netflix – which includes Lost in Space – is reportedly one of the major reasons behind the boost in regional activity.

See KFTV's production guide for more on filming in British Columbia.

Images: Michael John Gazetas/Netflix/Eike Schroter