The Last Of Us’ “10 Miles West Of Boston” Scene Was Actually Filmed 2,000 Miles West Of Boston

The director of photography for HBO’s The Last of Us series has shared some behind-the-scenes photos and images from the much-loved third episode, “Long Long Night.” Eben Bolter shared an incredible and fascinating look into the gripping and emotional episode, confirming, among other details that HBO basically built an entire town for the episode.

One of Bolter’s images also shows the precise latitude and longitude of the much-talked about scene claiming to be “10 miles west of Boston.” Because of those specific geopositioning details, we know that this scene was not actually filmed anywhere near Boston.

In fact, based on the coordinates that Bolter provided in one of the behind-the-scenes images, we can see it was filmed in Kananaskis, AB, Canada, near the Sheep River Falls. It’s an absolutely gorgeous, tranquil, and serene place, but it’s not near Boston. In reality, the scene was filmed more than 2,000 miles west of Boston. Locals shared some excellent memes about the Boston geography and the scenes lack of Dunkin’ Donuts, and even Stephen King weighed in. While Episode 3 might not have nailed Boston perfectly, it did contain a post-apocalyptic Cumberland Farms, and there isn’t much more quintessential New England than that.

Other details from the behind-the-scenes thread include how the town where Bill (Nick Offerman) lives was a real place that had asphalt laid for a new development before being abandoned. The art department then went to work and built an entire town. Really. “Every single house, fence, lamp post, everything you see was art dept,” Bolter said.

The houses were shells, and their interiors were built on a sound stage. However, one corner of Bill and Frank’s house was filmed on location to help with a certain scene. Bolter said the VFX team deserves a lot of credit for sprucing things up, too.

Another piece of trivia to know is that the Last of Us art department made one of Bill’s traps with cement, and it was actually Bill actor Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation, Devs) who did at least some of the work. When filming the scene was Bill seals the trap, a camera operator named Neal Bryant stayed down in the hole. Offerman said jokingly to Byrant, “F**k you, Neal,” according to Bolter.

You can see the full thread below.

HBO’s The Last of Us is one of most popular TV shows right now, and it’s setting viewership records at the Game of Thrones network.

The latest episode of The Last of Us featured Offerman as Bill and Murray Bartlett (The White Lotus) as Frank. The episode’s plot was biggest deviation from the game so far. For more on the episode, check out GameSpot’s breakdown, which contains massive spoilers.

New episodes of The Last of Us air Sunday nights on HBO, leading up to the Season 1 finale on March 12. HBO just recently announced that Season 2 is in the works, and fans believe it will follow the events of The Last of Us: Part II, and introduce Abby, among other characters.

For more, check out a trailer for this Sunday’s next episode.