Written by on Jul 29, 2014. Posted in On Location

US drama Dig to recreate Jerusalem interiors filming on location in New Mexico

The US drama series Dig is to start filming first unit interior scenes in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the city given a profile boost by Breaking Bad. Much of the show’s first series has been shot in Jerusalem, but producers decided to relocate as violence escalated between Israel and Gaza.

Dig follows a murder investigation and unravelling conspiracy at an archaeological dig in Jerusalem, and was intended to be the first American TV series to film entirely in Israel.

“Albuquerque welcomes USA Network’s upcoming event series Dig to our city,” said Gary Oppedahl, Director of the City’s Economic Development Department: “We’re thrilled to be part of the next setting that continues telling the story of this high action adventure drama.”

Dig will not necessarily stay in Albuquerque on a long-term basis and in fact producers still seem committed to filming exterior scenes outside the US. The New Mexico Film Office clarified that producers are still considering their international filming options.

New Mexico is the top production hub in the south-west US, partly because of its generous filming incentive programme that includes a tax credit of 30% for TV productions. Albuquerque Studios is one of the state’s top filming facilities and hosted several superhero productions including the first Avengers movie, before Marvel relocated much of its physical filming to the UK.

Breaking Bad has been the state’s highest-profile production in recent years and Albuquerque is currently hosting the spinoff series Better Call Saul.

American drama series Tyrant has also relocated from Israel in response to the continuing violence, opting to film in Turkey instead.

(Images: AMC)