FanBolt’s ‘Falling Skies’ Set Visit

In January, I was invited out to Vancouver, BC, to the set of TNT’s Falling Skies. The series was just about to wrap up filming on the second season of the show, and they were working on the episode which airs this Sunday night. We were lucky enough to not only be able to watch some of the filming, but we were also able to meet and chat with the cast.

There was only a handful of bloggers on the trip, all of which were major fans of the series and of the sci-fi genre in general. The rest of the trip was comprised of contest winners from Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Mexico, and the US. Despite language barriers, when you have a group of people that all love the same thing, they bond quite quickly, and that’s exactly what we did.

We stayed at the Shangri-La Hotel in downtown Vancouver, and that first night after getting settled in we attended a meet-and-greet party which included not only the contest winners and bloggers but also several team members from TNT. Peter Shindoka (who plays Dai on Falling Skies) was also kind enough to stop by to meet fans and chat with us about filming.

Falling Skies Set Visit

That night there was a special screening set up for us to watch the Season 1 finale, and we were also able to grab some swag including a t-shirt and fleece.

The next morning we had a little time to ourselves to explore the city before we met up for lunch with Claire Bee (who is an assistant to the producer on the series). She talked a bit with us about what it was like working on the series, and after a delicious lunch, we departed for two of the set locations.

We got to see some pretty spoilerish things from Season 2 that I can finally share!

Connor Jessup met up with us as soon as our bus arrived at the set location. He took the time to walk us around the set that was used for the Virginia setting this season. From destroyed cars to skitter legs, we took in all of the sights! We even got to meet one of the hardest working Falling Skies cast members that doesn’t get enough credit – Keith – the man who is the skitter on the show! I have my picture with him below.

Falling Skies Set Visit

As Connor continued to show us around, we got to meet Greg Beeman who told us he would tell us anything we wanted to know about the new season. TNT quickly told him that wasn’t a good idea. Understandable. Greg was great though in answering our questions, and we even got to see a little behind the scenes of a scene that would have CGI added to it later. My good friend, Robert Prentice, over at ThreeIfBySpace wrote a great piece up on this portion of the visit!

After grilling Greg with our questions, we headed off to a second set location in which they were filming a bus scene that you will see on Sunday night’s episode. Here, we were not only able to watch filming, but we were also able to interview the cast. I have a few highlights from those interviews below.

A few more photo highlights… (There’s a whole gallery of more images at the bottom of this post)

Falling Skies Set Visit

Falling Skies Set Visit

Falling Skies Set Visit

That night after we left the set, we ended up meeting up with Connor Jessup, Colin Cunningham, Peter Shindoka, and Drew Roy at a bar downtown for drinks and pool. I was partnered up with Colin for the first game of pool, and I distinctly remember asking him if he was good at pool and him saying he was alright – and then he proceeded to win the game without any help from me.

Falling Skies Set Visit

Colin wasn’t the only one that was a pool shark – it seemed to be a theme with the rest of the cast as well. They’re all incredibly talented – they inspired me to come home and start practicing!

It was amazing night filled with sharing stories from everyone’s backgrounds, and when the AM hours rolled around, we were no longer saying goodbye to talented actors that we admired – we were saying goodbye to new friends as well.

The following day, we had a wonderful time exploring the city including Stanley Park, Capilano Suspension Bridge (Beyond the bridge there’s a number of huge beautiful trees here as well!), and Grouse Mountain. That night we had dinner at The Observatory overlooking the lights of downtown Vancouver. It was a picture perfect moment with amazing food that we were all able to share with our new friends. (Side note – We had a glass of ice wine at the end of our dinner. I had never had it before, and I have to say it’s the most amazing wine I’ve ever tasted. I highly recommend it if you get a chance to try it!)

Falling Skies Set Visit

I want to thank Turner from the bottom of my heart for this amazing opportunity and the chance to get a closer look at Falling Skies, a show I so deeply admire and enjoy. There are 3 episodes left in this second season, and if you haven’t checked it out yet – be sure to catch it this Sunday night at 9pm EST on TNT!

Falling Skies Set Visit

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