Film crews are set to descend on one of North Wales’ most historic quarries over the next few weeks. Staff will be filming for the second season of HBO’s House of the Dragon TV series and will take over the entire site at Dinorwig Quarry in Llanberis, Gwynedd for the best part of a month as part of the project.
A leaked map showing the exact locations where filming will be taking place has now been shared with North Wales Live and shows the true scale of the shoot. It is believed that four filming sets will be created by the production crew at different points in the former slate quarry.
Several other locations on-site are being set up to house everything from filming equipment and vehicles to props. There will also be a ‘crowd base’ established at the top of the quarry which will be an area to hold the cast, extras and crew before they’re called onto the set for filming.
READ MORE: Stunning Anglesey caravan and campsite up for sale with multi-million pound price tag
Among the locations being used for the sets are the remains of one of the mills that were historically used by craftsmen to cut the slate mined from the quarry. Meanwhile, the Llyn Padarn and Llanberis viewpoint will be transformed into a tech base on one end, while the larger flatter area above Dinorwig Power Station, better known as Electric mountain, will host a larger preparation area for the production crew.
Several smaller equipment caches will be stashed around the site as well, with one vehicle ‘safe route’ set up to transfer gear across the site.
Public access to Dinorwig – which was at one point in time the world’s second largest slate mine – will be closed for periods during filming and private security is expected to patrol the site throughout. Footpaths in the quarry are due to be closed from Monday, June 26, until Sunday, July 9.
Access to the Allt Ddu site above Deiniolen will also be closed for a short period, from July 4-7. The area, a quarry memorial site and turning circle for buses, has become a popular parking spot for visitors.
Cast filming will take place over two days, on Wednesday and Thursday, July 5-6, and will involve horses. Earlier this month, producers issued a casting call for extras to take part in the series.
The notice said crews were looking for a large number of amputees to take part in the shoot – suggesting that crews could be filming a significant battle scene, which has become synonymous with the Game of Thrones franchise, in the area.
Typically, location camera crews will remain on site after the main cast have left the shoot to capture background scenes onto which actors can be added by CGI at a later date.
Other sites in North Wales have also been selected for filming as part of House of the Dragon, which is itself a spin-off of the smash hit fantasy series Game of Thrones, which aired on HBO in the US and Sky in the UK and ran for eight seasons between 2011 and 2019. It is believed scenes for series two will also be filmed on Newborough Beach on Anglesey.
Filming preparations began on the island on Monday, June 12 and is expected to be finished by Monday, June 26. Some filming is thought to have have already taken place as film crews were spotted elsewhere on the island at Penmon, where a large marquee was erected.
A resident in the Dinorwig area told North Wales Live: “Penmon is where the sets are being built, Newborough is a film location for the ‘sea and beach shoots’ and Dinorwig will also house several filming sets.”
Last month, a Game of Thrones fan also posted a TikTok video appearing to show another set for House of the Dragon, this time on the Gwynedd coast at Trefor. His clip showed a film crew marquee at Y Gwaith Mawr, a large walled granite quarry on the Yr Eifl (The Rivals) mountains.
READ NEXT: