In a few weeks, the Science Fiction Channel, now SYFY, will be broadcasting movies and TV programs from this Channel’s namesake genre for over thirty years since its September 24, 1992 debut.
Back when SYFY got set into motion with 300 movies, which included Star Wars, Star Trek, and various classic monster movies. And showed classic TV reruns like Buck Rogers, the Bill Bixby Incredible Hulk, and the original Battlestar Galactica. I remember watching The Outer Limits revival in the late nineties for the first time.
Eventually, this basic cable network would add buckets of original programming to their weekly schedule. Millions of Americans watched their great shows like Alphas, the new Battlestar Galactica, Sanctuary, and Stargate Atlantis, maybe assuming that the “non-outer space” ones were filmed in the United States. Because these shows very much looked like they were filmed in our cities, mountains, country, etc. Being a SYFY fan, I thought this, but a recent fall down an IMDB rabbit hole proved this false.
What if I told you that very few of these shows were filmed inside the USA.
For my curiosity, I used the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) website, the Channel’s website, and Wikipedia to compile a list of 54 current and former original programs that aired on SYFY and probed their filming locations. This endeavor didn’t include reality or documentary-type programming. I now want to share my findings with you. Below are the current and former shows, their broadcast years, and where they were mainly filmed in according to each IMDB filming location details.
Table 1. Current SYFY Shows
| Current Shows | Broadcast Years | Filmed In |
| Resident Alien | 2021- | Canada |
| Chucky | 2021- | Canada |
| Day of the Dead | 2021- | Canada |
| Reginald the Vampire | 2022- | Canada |
| Surreal Estate | 2021- | Canada |
| Astrid & Lilly Save the World | 2022- | Canada |
Table 2. Former SYFY Shows
| Former Shows | Broadcast Years | Filmed In |
| 12 Monkeys | 2015-2018 | USA |
| Alphas | 2011-2012 | Canada |
| Andromeda | 2000-2005 | Canada |
| Battlestar Galactica | 2005-2009 | Canada |
| Being Human | 2011-2014 | Canada |
| Bitten | 2014-2016 | Canada |
| Black Scorpion | 2001 | Canada |
| Blood Drive | 2017 | South Africa |
| Caprica | 2009-2010 | Canada |
| Channel Zero | 2016-2018 | Canada |
| Continuum | 2012-2015 | Canada |
| Dark Matter | 2015-2017 | Canada |
| Deadly Class | 2018-2019 | Canada |
| Defiance | 2013-2015 | Canada |
| Dominion | 2014-2015 | South Africa |
| Eureka | 2006-2012 | Canada |
| Farscape | 1999-2003 | Australia |
| First Wave | 1998-2001 | Canada |
| Flash Gordon | 2007-2008 | Canada |
| Ghost Wars | 2017-2018 | Canada |
| Happy! | 2017-2019 | USA |
| Haven | 2010-2015 | Canada |
| Helix | 2014-2015 | Canada |
| Hunters | 2016 | Australia |
| Incorporated | 2016-2017 | Canada |
| Killyjoys | 2015-2019 | Canada |
| Krypton | 2018-2019 | UK |
| Lexx | 1996-2002 | Canada |
| Lost Girl | 2010-2016 | Canada |
| Metal Hurlant Chronicles | 2012-2014 | Romania |
| Mission Genesis | 1997 | Canada |
| Nightflyers | 2018 | UK |
| Olympus | 2015 | Canada |
| Painkiller Jane | 2007 | Canada |
| Primeval: New World | 2012-2013 | Canada |
| Sanctuary | 2008-2011 | Canada |
| Stargate Atlantis | 2004-2009 | Canada |
| Stargate Universe | 2009-2011 | Canada |
| The Almighty Johnsons | 2011-2013 | New Zealand |
| The Dresden Files | 2007-2008 | Canada |
| The Invisible Man | 2000-2002 | USA |
| The Magicians | 2015-2020 | Canada |
| The Outer Limits Reruns | 1995-2002 | Canada |
| Vagrant Queen | 2020 | South Africa |
| Van Helsing | 2016-2021 | Canada |
| Warehouse 13 | 2009-2014 | Canada |
| Wynonna Earp | 2016-2021 | Canada |
| Z Nation | 2014-2018 | USA |
Results
I really meant it when I said that very few of these 54 shows were filmed in the United States. Exactly four: 12 Monkeys, Happy, The Invisible Man, and Z Nation were all filmed in one of our 50 States. This 7.4% seems low, but the United States ranked number two on the list of SYFY original programming shows filming locations. The graph below displays all the filming locations and how many shows were mainly filmed there.
Figure 1: SYFY Original Programming Filming Locations
Forty-one of the shows were filmed in Canada. That’s 75 percent or three-quarters of the 54 current and former shows from the lists. It’s crazy to think that three out of every four shows we watched were filmed in one of the Canadian Provinces. I wonder if this is true for the other basic cable television channels.
Other locations included Australia, New Zealand, Romania, The United Kingdom, and South Africa. After Canada and the USA, South Africa was next with three shows. The United Kingdom ranked fourth among the locations, with two shows filmed there.
I believe it’s safe to say that most of the SYFY channel’s original programming will continue to come from Canada. Check out the SYFY channel website for current, former, and future programming information.
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