Syfy’s Superman prequel series “Krypton” will be shot in Northern Ireland at the recently minted Belfast Harbour Studios, a coup for the local industry as the end of “Game of Thrones” comes into sight.
The new £20 million ($25.8 million) Belfast studio was announced at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival and will be the base for “Krypton,” which takes up the Superman story two generations before the Man of Steel’s home planet is destroyed.
It will follow the superhero’s grandfather, played by Cameron Cuffe (“The Halcyon”), as he fights to redeem the family’s honor and save Krypton. “Game of Thrones” actor Ian McElhinney will also appear. Phantom Four and Warner Horizon are producing. Pre-production starts this month, and shooting gets underway late summer.
Northern Ireland is a major base for “Game of Thrones” and helped put the region on the map for filming production.
“Welcoming our first tenant to Belfast Harbour Studios is very exciting for us,” said David Dobbin, chairman of Belfast Harbour. “Working with NI Screen and hosting visits from many production companies has shown there is a need for a facility like this.”
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Richard Williams, CEO of Northern Ireland Screen, added: “Securing ‘Krytpon’ is a real coup for us and cements our position as a world-class filming location with a local and highly skilled crew-base with vast experience. The construction of the new studios by Belfast Harbour has added tremendous value to our overall proposition.”
Williams told Variety last year that Belfast Harbour was built in the knowledge that “Game of Thrones” was coming to an end. “I’m hugely excited about the period after ‘Game of Thrones,’ where we have a level of stage capacity such that there really isn’t a project we couldn’t facilitate,” he said.
“Krypton” is one of two big-ticket original series greenlit by cable network Syfy earlier this year by Chris McCumber, the NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment president of entertainment networks who oversees both Syfy and USA. The series was written by David S. Goyer (“The Dark Knight”) and Damian Kindler (“Stargate SG-1”).
