A body falls from a cliff at Yosemite National Park. Could it be a mountain climbing accident or a wild coyote attack? Or does a deeper conspiracy brew in the California park’s forests? Eric Bana’s special agent Kyle Turner gets to the case in Untamed, Netflix’s six-episode miniseries created by Mark L Smith.
This isn’t the Oscar-nominated screenwriter’s first figurative trek through the American wilderness. Smith’s previous credits include Leonardo DiCaprio survival drama The Revenant and this year’s brutal Netflix western American Primeval.
With Untamed, Smith trades his period settings for a more modern timeline, but the tension remains the same. Fans of slow-burning mysteries like Mare of Easttown and True Detective will be hooked on Agent Turner approaching closer to the truth, oozing style with his greyed beard and horseback riding skills.
But if you’re wondering where Untamed was actually filmed, a few surprises await.
Was Untamed actually filmed at Yosemite National Park?
Surprisingly not. Set almost entirely in Yosemite, Eric Bana’s brooding cop Kyle Turner describes the California wilderness as ‘the size of Rhode Island’ with ‘five separate highway entrances’. But none of the national park actually features in Untamed.
Instead, the show’s crew set up camp mostly in Canada to film the series – and specifically the province of British Columbia. The Canadian province’s valleys, cliffs, and wilderness all doubled convincingly to recreate the green beauty and granite roughness of Yosemite National Park.
Mount Seymour
Untamed opens with a mountain climbing expedition gone wrong as a body falls off from the top of a cliff. In the show, this cliff is supposed to represent El Capitan, a granite monolith in Yosemite National Park. To recreate El Capitan, Untamed’s production team relied on Mount Seymour.
Overlooking the city of Vancouver, the mountain is a popular hiking spot much like the California summit it’s supposed to mimic in the show. Some of the areas around Seymour were also incorporated in the Yosemite scenes.
Murdo Frazer Park Cabin, North Vancouver
Pemberton Avenue is full of cosy-looking properties, but none of them preserve time and ooze a sense of mysticism like this log cabin in the middle of the woods. So, it seems fitting for this location to serve as Agent Turner’s own personal cabin. He leads a solitary, ascetic life in this cabin conveniently nestled within wooded trails, creeks, and a spot for him to ‘park’ his horse.
While the log cabin hosts the caretakers of the Murdo Fraser Park, it’s a popular filming location now. Previous shows to be filmed here include Supernatural, ABC’s Once Upon A Time, and Stargate SG-1.
Whistler Olympic Park
As its name suggests, the Whistler Olympic Park hosted parts of the 2010 Winter Olympics with events like ski jumping and cross-country skiing. Since the Olympics, it has turned into a public facility. Netflix features the park – outside of snowy season – as one of the many stand-ins for Yosemite National Park.
Grace Lake
This quaint lake in British Columbia stands in for Grouse Lake, a Yosemite Park lake notorious for its paranormal history. Legend has it that the park’s first ranger heard noises of a boy drowning in the lake. Since then, the boy’s ghost lures in people to their deaths. This spooky connection is apt for Turner’s investigations, as he is haunted by not just the death of the mountain climber from El Capitan but also someone close from his past.
Greenwood Park
Another park that proved crucial for exterior Yosemite shots was North Vancouver’s Greenwood Park. The park’s many forested trails feature in Untamed as Kyle Turner and the other forest rangers scrounge for evidence.
Deloca Farm, Deroche
As Turner collaborates with newly transferred forest ranger Naya Vasquez (Lily Santiago), the duo’s findings lead them to a squatter community that leads a hippie-like existence under a cultish leader. The group’s open-air base was filmed at Deloca Farm in Deroche. The irony is that Deroche actually hosts an idyllic farming community with a scant population of roughly 140 people.
Nita Lake Lodge
Yosemite’s connection with Indigenous populations and cultures compels Turner to dig deeper into the region’s past. His trail leads him to the Yan-O-Pah Hotel, a fancy resort built on Indigenous land and covered in artworks from the local tribes. Nita Lake Lodge, a boutique hotel and spa in Whistler, British Columbia, serves as the setting for the Yan-O-Pah.
Interestingly, ‘Yan-O-Pah’ is the original name of the Vernal Fall, used by the indigenous Miwok people of Yosemite Valley. The name directly translates to ‘Valley of the Yosemite’ or ‘little cloud’.
Eagles Hall, Maple Ridge
The Eagles Hall in Maple Ridge is a prime spot for hosting public gatherings and weddings. But the hall’s wooden architecture was perfect to set up as a base for the Forest Rangers in Untamed.
Cheakamus River and ‘Balls to the Wall’ Waterfall
As Turner and Vasquez get closer to the truth, the forest cops indulge in plenty of hiking across forest trails and waterfalls. The Cheakamus River features in these scenes, with its gushing torrents and towering fir and cedars. The river itself is a tributary of the larger Squamish River. Filming also took place at the ‘Balls to the Wall’ waterfall, a free-flowing drop in the river’s middle section that’s a popular spot for adventurous paddlers.
Who stars in Untamed?
Untamed is led by Eric Bana, the Australian star of Troy and Hulk. The role of a divorced, morbid forest agent like Kyle Turner suits Bana, considering his acclaimed turn as a grieving federal agent in the Australian thriller The Dry and its sequel, Force of Nature.
Joining Bana is New Zealander Sam Neill. The Jurassic Park and Peaky Blinders star plays Paul Souter, the chief park ranger at Yosemite who has served in the park for half his life. Lily Santiago stars as Naya Vasquez, the Yosemite ranger squad’s latest member.
Support comes from The Staircase actress Rosemarie DeWitt as Turner’s ex-wife and a former counsellor. Meanwhile, fresh off his role as Bullseye in Daredevil: Born Again, Wilson Bethel takes aim as an ex-soldier who now serves as the park’s wildlife management officer.
When can I watch Untamed?
All six episodes of Untamed will stream on Netflix from July 17.
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