Rumours surround teardown at Port Moody's old mill site

"Shōgun" filming? Rumours surround activity at Metro Vancouver site

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Speculation over what’s happening at the site of a former sawmill in Metro Vancouver is growing mere days after some eagle-eyed residents noted a lot of construction crews seemed to be tearing down a structure at the site on the Burrard Inlet in Port Moody.

Buildings and equipment from the now-shuttered Flavelle Sawmill have remained four years after the historic mill on Murray Street closed its doors, but many are wondering why there are so many people on that site these days.

A Port Moody resident shared videos and photos of the ongoing work on the site and is among those curious about what’s happening there.

Curious and curiouser! Lots of questions are being raised about what’s happening at the old mill site in Port Moody today pic.twitter.com/MObNeP5X92

— Claire Fenton (@Ceeceefenton) August 14, 2024

The area has been proposed to become a major redevelopment, which is still being discussed, but in the meantime, it’s been used for some Hollywood North filming locations, including Shōgun.

Will Shōgun be filming again in Port Moody?

The popular and critically acclaimed series based on James Clavell’s novel of the same name is streaming on Disney+, and fans are already looking forward to more seasons.

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“FX, Hulu, and the Estate of James Clavell are working to extend the critically acclaimed global hit drama Shōgun, moving forward to develop the saga with two additional seasons of the drama series,” The Walt Disney Company announced in May.

Samurai costume in Shogun. (Jose Alvarado/Disney)

“The show’s key creative partners, including co-creators, executive producers, and writers Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo, executive producer Michaela Clavell, and series star and producer Hiroyuki Sanada, are on board for the development. Production timing has not been locked in, but a writers’ room is being assembled and will begin this summer,” Disney added.

japanese white pine tree shogun flavelle port moody filming

Filming of Shogun at the former Flavelle sawmill site in Port Moody, with the temporary stone wall and Japanese White Pine tree used as the on-site set, in 2022. (Phil Pacaud/Creative BC)

Port Moody old ilml a hotbed for filming

But, despite rumours that it might be the popular show back in action, the site’s owner provided Daily Hive with information that might disappoint some fans.

“We’ve completed with Shogun,” Bruce Gibson, VP of real estate with AP Groud, said, adding that he got to tour the set, and it was fascinating, but the series has not renewed the lease to film again.

“They opted to tear down their sets for their own reasons.”

He added that what people have spotted today was actually just a teardown of a big shed.

“The snow loads on that roof were becoming problematic. So we had the engineer go through it and look at it this year. He said, ‘You’re gonna have to take it down,'” Gibson said.

It’s not the only spot that is showing signs of age.

“That building, because its a wood structure, the roof needed maintenance, some of the structural bits we knew were wearing… As we go through that structure, there are all sorts of sections where wood posts were replaced with steel over the decades, and so it’s no longer an operating business,” he said. “Nowhere near current building codes.”

He said it made more sense to tear it down, which was completed Wednesday.

But he confirms that people’s guesses that filming is happening at the spot are bang on.

“We have Netflix, who’s there for a bit of an extended period, and then Disney, who’s the one that people see, which is closer to the street, they’re there for a few months,” he said.

Gibson said that a lot of the time, the spot is used for supernatural scenes.

The City of Port Moody did give us more hints about the names of the productions on location right now that people might be seeing.

“We are aware of two film projects that are underway at the old mill site. You can find information on these under the working titles of “Diner Bear” and ‘Mink Golden'” Devin Jain, acting general manager of community service, said in an email Wednesday.

One of those sounds an awful lot like season 2 of Disney’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and another is reportedly a Netflix production, but the name has not been made public.

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With files from Kenneth Chan