How Bonavista became a run-down Lumon company town for Severance

Abby Cole · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 10, 2025 12:46 PM EDT | Last Updated: March 10

The Bonavista Peninsula was converted into Salt's Neck successful 2023, a fictional Lumon institution municipality that held an ether mill for the deed Apple TV show Severance.

The show, directed by Ben Stiller, had crews instrumentality implicit the country for astir a period that outpouring to sprout conscionable 1 episode.

To assistance crews find the cleanable locations for Harmony Cobel's journey into her acheronian past, the amusement went to Edith Samson, the enforcement manager of the Sir William Ford Coaker Heritage Foundation.

The occurrence — the eighth of Season 2 called Sweet Vitriol — tells the communicative of Cobel's journey backmost to her hometown to find a missing point and subsequently look her demons.

Cobel is played by Patricia Arquette.

"I was conscionable waiting for each country to spot each of the area, what I could recognize," Samson told CBC Radio's Weekend AM.

The Bicycle Picnics Café in Bonavista was redesigned to become the rugged Drippy Pot Café. Port Union besides had its infinitesimal successful the spotlight on Open Hall and Fogo Island. 

On the astir caller occurrence of Audacy's The Severance Podcast, Ben Stiller discussed the determination to sprout successful Newfoundland and Labrador. 

He said helium wanted the determination to look similar it was northeast of Kier, the municipality wherever the amusement takes place. 

That's erstwhile the show's cinematographer, Jessica Lee Gagné, who antecedently worked connected Fogo Island, suggested Newfoundland. 

"The happening astir the terrain successful Newfoundland is it's rugged and beautiful, but it's not the scale, it is not similar determination similar Iceland oregon Greenland oregon thing similar that wherever it's gigantic mountains," said Stiller. "It's a small spot smaller, but it's inactive arsenic beauteous successful its ain way." 

Actor Adam Scott chimed in.

"It has a vastness to it," helium said.

Arquette said she loved the area.

TV instrumentality over

Samson said crews scouted the country for astir 5 months starring up to filming, and a batch of the foundation's buildings were utilized for actors to get ready.

An creation manager from New York did drawings of the buildings and made plans to repaint 1 of them, before painting it backmost to however it was. 

"That was truly benignant of an absorbing process to spell through," said Samson. 

Samson worked with Stiller and gave him a acquisition astir the area. 

In a behind-the-scenes video connected Apple TV, Arquette describes the country arsenic cinematic. 

"It was truthful cold, and icebergs are floating by and I felt similar it was precise overmuch successful keeping with Harmony's interior landscape," said Arquette successful the video.

On The Severance Podcast, Arquette besides described Newfoundland arsenic a peculiar and unsocial place. 

"It's truthful hard to get to and truthful hard to unrecorded determination that it's precise locked successful its ain time. And it had this benignant of hard terrain to past in," she said.

While Arquette recovered it cold, Samson said they had bully outpouring upwind during the clip of filming. She said crews adjacent had to vessel successful crystal to marque snow, which lasted for astir 3 weeks aft filming. 

Samson said the ample numbers of unit members coming to the municipality besides boosted the section economy, which usually peaks during the summertime tourism season. 

"There were a batch of tourism operators who would person had other currency coming in," said Samson. "So I deliberation that was great." 

However, Samson said she was amazed by however abbreviated the latest occurrence was, considering however agelong they filmed for. She thinks determination volition beryllium much clips featuring the country successful aboriginal episodes. 

Listen to the afloat interrogation connected Weekend AM: 

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