Iceland is a beautiful country and it makes for some spectacularly gorgeous shots and locations. What you may not know is that many television show productions have filmed in Iceland over the years. It may problematic having to lug all the equipment, actors, and crew members out to a remote location on a remote Northern island, but it’s certainly worth it for those beautiful shots!
Iceland is also a visually varied country, which means one show filmed in Iceland may look absolutely nothing like another show. Such is the beauty of the country! These are ten TV shows you didn’t know were filmed in Iceland.
Game Of Thrones
Game of Thrones contains many varied settings, and many of its scenes were filmed in Iceland. The famous Hound and Brienne fight was filmed on the Hengill mountain to the south of Thingvellir.
Thingvellir National Park was used for numerous locations and scenes, including the Bloody Gate at the Eyrie and Ygritte and Tormund feasting with Thenn Styr. Jon and his team travel through Þórsmörk to apprehend a wight, which is eventually captured in Stakkholtsgjá Canyon. Jon captures Ygritte on the Svínafellsjökull glacier. We could go on!
Vikings
It only makes sense that History’s Vikings is filmed in Iceland! Iceland is used predominantly throughout the show’s fifth season. The famous Dyrhólaey Black Sand Beach is used in the first episode of season five when Flóki comes across an “unknown land.”
Along his journey throughout this “unknown land,” Flóki discovers the iconic Skógafoss Waterfall. Other locations used throughout the season include the Kvernufoss Waterfall, the Krýsuvík geothermal area, and Hvannadalshnjúkur Mountain (which is part of the Öræfajökull Glacier).
Trapped
Trapped is an Icelandic mystery series. Naturally, it is filmed in Iceland. Now, who would have thought that? Trapped is primarily shot in a small fishing village in Northern Iceland called Siglufjörður. The town is located in a narrow fjord, covers an area of 155 square kilometers, and is home to roughly 1,200 people.
However, the show has also employed other locations around Iceland, including the Hafnarfjörður Reykjavík suburb and Seyðisfjörður, East Iceland. We tell you one thing - this show really makes us want to move to Iceland!
Black Mirror
No, not ALL of Black Mirror is filmed in Iceland! But it was used for the fourth season episode Crocodile. Crocodile employed numerous locations around Iceland. The gorgeous opening scenes were filmed at Lake Kleifarvatn, and the abandoned barn was filmed at a nearby body of water called Lake Grænavatn.
Mia’s house overlooks the Baula mountain near Bifröst. Even the indoor scenes are filmed on location, as Mia performs a speech at the Harpa Concert Hall and the reception of Hotel Medina Plaza was filmed at Reykjavík City Hall.
Sense8
Iceland also served as the filming location of various scenes throughout Netflix’s Sense8. In episode 7, Riley arrives and is greeted by her father in Iceland’s Keflavík International Airport. In one scene, Magnus visits Riley at school while riding on a horse. This was not a set, but the real Reykjavík University, home to about 3,500 students.
Other locations include the aforementioned Harpa Hall (Riley’s father performs here with an orchestra), the Hvalfjörður Tunnel (Riley is taken through here in episode 12), and of course the famous Black Sand Beach. No wonder the show was canceled - it must have cost a fortune to film!
Fortitude
Fortitude is a British psychological thriller that is set in the fictional Arctic Norwegian settlement of Fortitude. Filming for the series takes place primarily in the small Icelandic town Reyðarfjörður, which is home to about 1,100 people. This town is located in the far Eastern section of Iceland, and as such, doesn’t get many tourists.
Real locations used for the show include Dennis Quaid’s cute yellow house, the research center (which is actually a school), and the town bar with a neon fox over its entrance. Shooting on location allows the series to wonderfully capture the alienation and peaceful beauty of living in a remote Icelandic town.
LazyTown
You probably know the children’s series LazyTown thanks to the Robbie Rotten memes. The meme became widespread once Robbie Rotten actor Stefán Karl Stefánsson was diagnosed with bile duct cancer. Despite the efforts of the fans and resulting GoFundMe campaign, Stefánsson tragically passed away in August 2018.
What you may not know (if you’ve only seen the memes and nothing else) is that LazyTown is actually an Icelandic television show. The show was primarily filmed in the self-titled LazyTown Studios in Iceland.
Halo: Nightfall
Halo: Nightfall is a brief little series meant to serve as an introduction and origin story for Agent Jameson Locke. It was originally released alongside Halo: The Master Chief Collection but has since been made available on the Halo Channel app and on physical disc.
Despite being a cheap little extra, production for Halo: Nightfall went all the way to Iceland. While a large chunk of filming was done in Belfast, Iceland was used for the scenes of the Halo fragment due to its rugged and somewhat alien-looking terrain. Beautiful terrain, yes, but still a little alien-looking!
The Eagle
The Eagle: A Crime Odyssey is a Danish police procedural known as Ørnen: En krimi-odyssé. It was critically acclaimed upon release and even won the International Emmy Award for Best Non-American Television Drama Series in 2005.
The show employed numerous real locations throughout Europe, including Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Berlin. And, as you can imagine (seeing as how it’s on this list!), the show was also filmed in Iceland. This makes sense considering the main character, Hallgrim Ørn Hallgrimsson (nickname “The Eagle”) is half Icelandic.
The Lava Field: Hraunið
The Lava Field: Hraunið was a TV miniseries (or, as it was marketed, “a four-part crime series”) that aired throughout 2014. It told the story of a Reykjavik crime detective named Helgi Marvin Runarsson who is pulled into a mysterious suicide case involving deep-buried secrets and his own daughter.
The series is authentically Icelandic, containing a cast of Icelandic actors and authentic Icelandic locations. If you want to get a peek into what life is truly like in Iceland (minus all the crime drama intrigue), then you should check out The Lava Field: Hraunið.
