Filming in Vancouver: Johnny Depp, The Flash, Arrow, Once Upon a Time, and more

Johnny Depp

Some big-name movie stars are heading to town and some superpowered TV series are getting ready to do battle once again.

This week’s roundup is action-packed and full of surprises so strap yourselves in and hang on tight because here we go!

First off the top, here are two major film productions coming to town in the near future.

Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp will be coming to town to star in Richard Says Goodbye, which shoots from July 25 to August 25.

In the comedy-drama by writer-director Wayne Roberts (Katie Says Goodbye), when a college professor (Depp) receives a life-changing diagnosis, he embarks upon a hedonistic lifestyle, aiming to live as freely as possible.

Fun fact: Depp got his start here in Vancouver when he shot the TV series 21 Jump Street here in the late 1980s.

Anna Kendrick

Later on in the year, Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect) will star in a female version of Santa Claus, directed by Marc Lawrence (Did You Hear About the Morgans?).

Untitled Santa Claus Project will shoot in town from September 1 to December 31.

The Disney film will see Santa’s daughter Nicole take over the reins of the family operation when her father retires and her brother gets cold feet before Christmas Eve.

Moving on to the home screen, a slew of powerpacked TV series are coming back to Vancouver to start in on their new seasons this week.

Grant Gustin plays The Flash

In the blink of an eye, The Flash starts Season 4 today (July 4) and continues until April 21.

In the Season 3 finale, the titular hero sacrificed himself to the extradimensional energy Speed Force to save Central City. Was that the end of Barry Allen? Will someone become the Flash? Will Team Flash figure out a way to save the day?

The cast includes Grant Gustin (as Barry Allen/The Flash), Jesse L. Martin, Tom Cavanagh, Candice Patton, Danielle Panabaker, Carlos Valdes, and Keiynan Lonsdale.

Once Upon a Time

Then on Thursday (July 6), Once Upon a Time launches into filming Season 7. It’ll continue shooting until April 2, 2018.

But this time there are some major changes in store in both fantasy and the real world.

After the Season 6 finale saw the Black Fairy (Jaime Murray) defeated and Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison) lived happily ever after, that storyline has come to an end.

Jennifer Morrison in Once Upon a Time

As a result, several cast members announced their departure: Ginnifer Goodwin, Josh Dallas, Jared Gilmore, Emilie de Ravin, Rebecca Mader, and Morrison have all bid adieu.

Consequently, the series will start afresh with a new storyline that begins when a longlost daughter Lucy, played by Alison Fernandez, appears before her father Henry, played by Andrew J. West (The Walking Dead), to urge him to save his family.

Melissa Benoist as Supergirl

The same day that series starts, Supergirl, which moved to Vancouver last season, gets going on Season 3, and will carry on until April 28, 2018.

The series stars Melissa Benoist as the lead character.

Katie McGrath (Dracula) will be promoted to a series regular as Lena Luthor, Lex Luthor’s sister, while Odette Anabelle (Pure Genius) will join the cast as the villain Reign.

It’s slated to hit the airwaves on October 9.

Stephen Amell as the Arrow

On Friday (July 7), Arrow gets into production on Season 6, continuing all the way April 26, 2018.

With the last season concluding in a showdown between Oliver Queen/Arrow (Stephen Amell) and Adrian Chase/Prometheus (Josh Segarra), did anyone from Team Arrow survive the massive explosion?

The Arrow cast has included Amell, David Ramsey, Willa Holland, Emily Bett Rickards, Paul Blackthorne, Katie Cassidy, Echo Kellum, John Barrowman, and Susanna Thompson. Who will return for Season 6—and who won’t?

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow

On the same day (July 7), DC’s Legends of Tomorrow starts shooting Season 3, and will keep going until February 26, 2018.

The superhero team finds themselves in an alternate Los Angeles (played, of course, by Vancouver) in which dinosaurs coexist alongside London’s Big Ben. They discover they’ve time-travelled into a world full of historical anachronisms.

The cast includes Victor Garber, Brandon Routh, Dominic Purcell, Caity Lotz, Franz Drameh, Nick Zano, Amy Purcell, and Maisie Richardson-Sellers.

Jennifer Connelly

In other upcoming TV news, the pilot for Snowpiercer will shoot from August 28 to September 29.

The sci-fi thriller is based on Bong Joon-ho’s 2013 feature film of the same name and will be directed by Doctor Strange writer-director Scott Derrickson. (Fun fact: Bong Joon-ho’s Okja shot in Vancouver in August last year.)

It’s set in a future in which the world is frozen over and the last human survivors travel in a train that circles the world and is divided into classes.

The cast will include Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind), who will play a first-class passenger, and Daveed Diggs (Black-ish) will play a prisoner who becomes involved in a struggle that could upset the order of things on the train.

Other cast members include Roberto Urbina, Katie McGuiness, Annalise Basso, Sasha Frolova, Benjamin Haigh, Michey Sumner, and Alison Wright.

Daveed Diggs

Phew! Got all that?

That’s all for this week but there’ll be plenty more to go through in the weeks to come so be sure to check back in with us again.

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