Lonesome Dove: The Western Classic That Made New Mexico a TV Filming Hotspot

Vince Gilligan has raised the profile of New Mexico as a filming location with the Breaking Bad franchise and his latest show Pluribus, but the state’s history hosting big-name TV shows long predates the arrival of Walter White. In fact, it was a landmark Western series that first showed the world how special shooting in New Mexico could be.

As well as being one of the best Western TV shows ever made, Lonesome Dove was the first major small-screen production to take advantage of the diverse landscapes of New Mexico for its location shoots. Those who admire the gorgeous panoramic shots of rocky desert plains in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul should revisit this classic Western.

New Mexico’s distinctive microclimates and wide variety of spectacular scenery make it uniquely conducive to sweeping outdoor sequences and wilderness settings for shows and movies alike, which explains why it’s become such a popular shooting location for the Western genre in particular. Netflix’s American Primeval is just the latest of several Western series to have been filmed in the state.

New Mexico Was A Primary Filming Location For Lonesome Dove

Simon Wincer’s seminal Western miniseries Lonesome Dove made extensive use of several New Mexico locations for much of its story. It followed in the footsteps of staging scenes on the set of the Cerro Pelon Ranch where the 1985 Western movie Silverado was filmed, and the Bonanza Creek Ranch where Sam Elliott’s early TV Western Wild Times was shot.

These are just two of five different New Mexico locations where parts of Lonesome Dove was shot, according to the filming location marketplace Giggster. The series used the state’s iconic Black Lake as a stand-in for Montana during the famous scene in which Danny Glover’s character Joshua Deets is killed.

The mountain village of Angel Fire also stood in for Montana and Wyoming landscapes in numerous sequences, and the Colorado River crossing scenes were shot around the San Ildefonso Pueblo area, along the Rio Grande. Meanwhile, Cerro Pelon Ranch was used to represent the towns of Ogallala, Nebraska, and Miles City, Montana.

Lonesome Dove Revived New Mexico's Popularity As A Filming Location

Lonesome Dove was one of two major screen releases in the late 1980s which transformed the fortunes of New Mexico as a location for the film and TV industry. The 1988 Western movie Young Guns was also filmed in the state, showcasing its suitability for portraying a variety of Old West settings, as well as landscape sequences across all screen genres.

New Mexico was used to shoot several classic Westerns in decades gone by, including Billy Wilder’s 1951 movie Ace in the Hole, and Ambush starring Robert Taylor. However, prior to the 1980s, it had fallen out of favor as a filming location for big Hollywood studios as the Western genre went into decline.

Young Guns and Lonesome Dove spearheaded a revival of high-profile location shoots in the state, including for Chuck Norris’ neo-Western TV show Walker, Texas Ranger, and the big-budget blockbuster movie Armageddon. These productions laid the groundwork for Vince Gilligan to ride into town in the late noughties.

Vince Gilligan Has Made New Mexico The Home Of His TV Shows

Albuquerque, New Mexico was chosen as the setting for Breaking Bad on the basis of the state’s tax incentive scheme for screen productions, which made the show cheaper to make if it hired local crew members. However, the location soon became an integral part of the franchise.

Vince Gilligan moved his entire studio operation, and even his home, to Albuquerque. He’s spent much of the last month there, filming season 2 of Pluribus. It’s safe to assume that any TV show he oversees from this point on will have at least one foot in New Mexico.

The state has Gilligan to thank for its thriving 21st century TV and film industry. However, Gilligan has the likes of Lonesome Dove to thank for reviving New Mexico’s screen industry in the first place.