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| Where Was The Thicket Filmed? All Filming Locations Revealed. |
The Thicket was filmed entirely in Alberta, Canada, with Greater Calgary providing most of the locations used to recreate the harsh West Texas setting of the story. Although the film is set around the turn of the 20th century in Texas, the production found what it needed in Alberta’s rural landscapes, working ranches, Western backlots and mountain scenery. The result is a convincing period setting that feels far removed from modern Calgary, which is rather useful when your film requires dusty frontier towns and dangerous wilderness rather than office blocks and traffic lights.
The production had originally planned to shoot The Thicket in Spain, but those plans were disrupted by the pandemic. Filming eventually moved to Alberta, where principal photography began around late February or early March 2023 and continued until the first week of April.
That timing sounds picturesque until you remember that Alberta winter temperatures can be spectacularly unpleasant. The crew reportedly had to stop production several times when temperatures dropped below -35°C, making the Old West adventure considerably colder than the fictional Texas setting would suggest.
Greater Calgary, Alberta, became the main filming area and supplied much of the visual identity of the movie. The production used rural locations outside Calgary to stand in for the West Texas landscape inhabited by Jack, Reginald Jones, Eustace Hollow and Jimmie Sue as they pursue Cut Throat Bill. The surrounding countryside offered open fields, rugged terrain and enough space to create a period world without modern buildings constantly wandering into the background.
One of the key locations was CL Western Town, west of Calgary near the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The site is designed around historical Western architecture, with period-style streets, buildings, interiors, a school and a church. For a movie set around the turn of the century, it was practically a ready-made frontier town. Instead of constructing an entire settlement from scratch, the production could use an environment already built to look as though it had been waiting for a gang of bounty hunters to arrive.
Albertina Farms, located near the Bow River, was another important part of the production. Its combination of working-ranch surroundings, open land and backlot space gave the filmmakers room to stage sequences that needed a more natural Western environment. The landscape also helped maintain the film’s rough, isolated atmosphere, particularly in scenes where the characters are travelling through territory that seems to stretch endlessly in every direction.
The production also made use of Bow River Ranch Western Backlot in Glenbow, close to Springbank Airport. Its Western-themed environment provided another useful setting for the period drama, giving the filmmakers more control over the appearance of buildings, streets and surrounding terrain.
With several purpose-built Western locations spread across the Calgary area, the movie could move between settlements and wilderness without having its frontier illusion constantly interrupted by 21st-century Alberta.
Mînî Thnî, also known as the Stoney Nakoda reserve, also forms part of the Alberta locations associated with the production. The area sits west of Calgary and is surrounded by striking landscapes that fit naturally into the film’s rugged visual style. Its terrain helped broaden the sense of scale around the characters, particularly as the story pushes deeper into the dangerous wilderness surrounding the Big Thicket.
The Kananaskis Range adds another layer to the film’s landscape. Known for its dramatic mountain scenery, broad valleys and rugged surroundings, the region gives the movie a much bigger sense of wilderness. It is not exactly the Texas landscape the characters are supposed to inhabit, but cinema has always been rather fond of making one corner of the world pretend to be another. In this case, Alberta does the job remarkably well.
Another useful location to include in the Alberta filming trail is Springbank, west of Calgary, where the rural landscape around the airport and surrounding countryside provides the kind of open frontier environment that suits the film. The area combines farmland, rolling terrain and access to the larger landscapes around the Rocky Mountain foothills, making it a natural extension of the movie’s Western setting.
The freezing conditions became one of the most memorable parts of the shoot. Director Elliott Lester recalled working through temperatures as low as -35°C, along with fierce winds, while praising the Calgary crew for continuing to work through conditions that would make most people reconsider their career choices. He also joked about packing plenty of woolly socks and drinking a lot of soup. Frankly, for a production spending weeks outside in those temperatures, soup sounds less like a comfort food and more like essential equipment.
The weather also affected the cast. Lester acknowledged that actors were dealing with a level of cold that was difficult to prepare for, despite efforts by the production to keep everyone as comfortable as possible. The crew, meanwhile, continued working outdoors, including handling equipment in temperatures well below freezing. The director later praised the Calgary team as among the most committed crews he had worked with and said he would happily return to make another film there — preferably in summer, which feels like a very reasonable request.
For The Thicket, Alberta ultimately does more than provide a convenient substitute for West Texas. The combination of Western backlots, ranches, open countryside and mountain landscapes gives the movie a physical world that feels rough, remote and suitably unforgiving. The contrast is also part of the fun: a story set in scorching frontier Texas was filmed during one of Alberta’s coldest periods, with the actors and crew battling temperatures that would make even the toughest cowboy reach for a winter coat.
My take is that The Thicket’s Alberta locations are one of its most interesting behind-the-scenes details because they show how much a production can get from the right landscape. CL Western Town supplies the period atmosphere, the ranches provide the open country and Kananaskis brings the grand wilderness, while Calgary ties everything together.
There is something slightly hilarious about making a dusty Western in conditions cold enough to freeze the enthusiasm out of anyone who forgot their gloves. Still, visually, it makes sense. Alberta has the scale, texture and rugged character needed to make the story’s dangerous frontier feel believable without relying entirely on digital scenery.
So, if you were wondering where The Thicket was filmed, the short answer is Alberta, with Greater Calgary serving as the production’s main base and locations such as CL Western Town, Albertina Farms, Bow River Ranch Western Backlot, Mînî Thnî, Springbank and the Kananaskis Range helping build its frontier world.
Would you actually brave those freezing Alberta conditions to see the landscapes for yourself, or would you rather visit when the temperature is behaving itself? Tell us which The Thicket filming location you would most like to visit.