13 Shows to Watch for the Scenery Alone
Sometimes, production designers create fantastical sets for TV shows… and sometimes, their filming locations do the heavy lifting.
Game of Thrones, for instance, started filming in Northern Ireland—“some of the most beautiful [locations] I’ve ever seen,” production designer Deborah Riley said—before finding other incredible landscapes throughout Europe and Africa.
More recently, shows like Better Call Saul, Westworld, and Yellowstone have found breathtaking backdrops in the American West.
Scroll down to see the TV shows whose scenery is practically a supporting player.
Better Call Saul
Like predecessor Breaking Bad, this AMC crime drama is filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the surrounding desert.
Big Little Lies
This HBO drama was set in Monterey, California, but it was also filmed in Pasadena, Calabasas, and Malibu—all picture-perfect locations.
Broadchurch
The cliffside crime scene of this ITV drama’s central murder was the cliffs of Dorset, England, which experienced a tourism boost as a result of the show’s popularity.
Fargo
The first three seasons of this FX crime anthology were shot in the frigid climes of Calgary, Alberta.
Fortitude
For this Sky Atlantic thriller, the Icelandic town of Reydarfjördur filled in for the titular Norwegian Arctic settlement.
Game of Thrones
HBO’s record-setting epic also filmed in Iceland, as well as Northern Island, Scotland, Malta, Morocco, Croatia, and—pictured here—Spain.
Lost
The “Island” of this mind-bending ABC drama was actually Oahu, Hawaii, which also doubled for Iraq, Nigeria, France, and Australia by the magic of the show’s production team.
Outlander
Scotland played itself in the first season of this centuries-hopping Starz drama, and it’s been playing colonial North Carolina in recent seasons.
Queen Sono
Filming locations for this Netflix crime drama’s first season included Johannesburg, South Africa, Lagos, Nigeria, and Zanzibar, Tanzania.
Sense8
This Netflix sci-fi drama—a show about a telepathic connection between strangers around the world—shot on location in Berlin, Chicago, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Nairobi, Reykjavík, San Francisco, and Seoul.
Top of the Lake
The New Zealand tourist destinations of Queenstown and Glenorchy served as the filming locations for this international co-production.
Westworld
Castle Valley, Utah, provides the stunning panoramas of this HBO drama’s Wild West-themed amusement park.
Yellowstone
This Paramount Network western drama isn’t shot at the namesake national park, but the show’s Utah and Montana filming locations are breathtaking nevertheless.
