A bodyguard posing as her action-star client’s girlfriend, a family ranch, and a fake romance that stops being fake: “Guarding Stars,” Netflix’s adaptation of Katherine Center’s novel “The Bodyguard,” lands November 18, 2026. The story plants its characters on a ranch in Montana, but the production actually shot in Alberta, Canada, in a region so used to standing in for the American West that it has its own nickname among location scouts. Here’s everything confirmed about where it was really filmed.
Guarding Stars at a Glance (TL;DR)
- Release date: November 18, 2026, on Netflix
- Director: Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum
- Cast: Jared Padalecki (Jack Stapleton), Leighton Meester (Hannah Brooks), Andie MacDowell, Walker Hayes, CM Punk (Phil Brooks), Toby Sandeman, Noah LaLonde
- Based on: Katherine Center’s novel “The Bodyguard” (also the film’s working title)
- Story setting: A family ranch in Montana
- Actual filming location: Calgary and High River, Alberta, Canada
- Production dates: December 4–20, 2025, and February 17 – March 10, 2026, after a long production hiatus (no official reason given)
Calgary: The Production Base
Filming ran in two separate blocks in and around Calgary, Alberta: December 4–20, 2025, and February 17 – March 10, 2026. The production went through what Hollywood North Buzz describes only as “a long hiatus” before resuming in February, without stating a reason, which also confirmed the original December shoot dates in an earlier report. Some outlets have connected the gap to a Jared Padalecki injury, but that specific claim traces back to a broken leg he sustained years earlier during his “Supernatural” days, not to this production, so it isn’t repeated here as fact.
One confirmed location inside the city: the University of Calgary campus, used across December 12, 13, 15, and 16, 2025. Per UCalgary’s own news release, the shoot used Hunter Student Commons for an outdoor action sequence, the Clinical Simulation Learning Centre standing in for a hospital ER, and an indoor boardroom scene. This was reportedly the third Netflix production to film on the UCalgary campus in 2025 alone.
Leighton Meester was also spotted filming on Stephen Avenue, downtown Calgary’s pedestrian shopping street, per a local sighting reported by Daily Hive.
Photo: Sunrise over Kananaskis, Alberta / Pexels
Can you visit? Yes. The University of Calgary’s public spaces are open to visitors, and Stephen Avenue is a downtown pedestrian mall lined with shops and restaurants, easy to walk through on any trip to Calgary.
High River: Where the Ranch Scenes Were Shot
For the ranch-country feel the story needs, production moved about 40 minutes south of Calgary to High River, a small town in the foothills, from December 4 to 6, 2025. The crew filmed amid High River’s real 40th Annual Santa Claus Parade on December 5, with actual local crowds and floats in the background, followed by additional shooting with snow machines and street closures. This is confirmed by two independent local outlets, Western Wheel (syndicated across several Alberta community papers) and Calgary Locale.
High River isn’t a random pick either. It’s the real-life home base of the long-running CBC ranch drama “Heartland,” and the wider foothills region around Okotoks and High River has been described by local press as a genuine hub for Western-set film and TV production.
No outlet has named the specific ranch property used for the family-ranch scenes, so treat any claim naming a particular ranch as unconfirmed for now.
Photo: Reflection of the Canadian Rockies at sunrise, Canmore, Alberta / Pexels — representative Alberta foothills/mountain scenery
Can you visit? Yes. High River is a public town you can drive through freely; its annual Santa Claus Parade is a real community event anyone can attend, usually held the first weekend of December.
Why Alberta Plays Montana So Often
If the Montana-set story felt authentic despite filming entirely in Canada, that’s by design. Alberta’s foothills have stood in for the northern US in a string of recent productions: Travel Alberta notes that “Let Him Go” (set in Montana and North Dakota) and “Brokeback Mountain” (set in Wyoming) both used Alberta locations, and High River itself doubles for the fictional town of Hudson, Colorado, in “My Life with the Walter Boys.” The terrain, light, and small-town main streets read as “American West” on camera even though nothing was shot south of the border.
A handful of sources, including What’s on Netflix, also mention Vancouver, BC as a secondary filming location, though this isn’t confirmed by the Alberta-focused trade coverage that documented the Calgary and High River shoots in detail. Worth flagging as a possibility rather than a confirmed fact.
FAQ
Where was Guarding Stars filmed?
Mainly in and around Calgary, Alberta, including the University of Calgary campus and downtown’s Stephen Avenue, with ranch-country scenes shot in High River, Alberta. The story itself is set on a ranch in Montana.
Is the ranch in Guarding Stars a real place?
The specific ranch hasn’t been publicly identified. The ranch-country scenes were filmed in and around High River, Alberta, a real foothills town known for doubling as the American West in other productions like “Heartland.”
Who stars in Guarding Stars?
Jared Padalecki (as Jack Stapleton) and Leighton Meester (as Hannah Brooks) lead, with Andie MacDowell, Walker Hayes, CM Punk, Toby Sandeman, and Noah LaLonde in supporting roles. It’s directed by Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum.
Did Jared Padalecki get injured during filming?
Not that any source has confirmed for this production. A widely known broken-leg injury of his dates back to his “Supernatural” years and isn’t connected to “Guarding Stars.” The production did pause for a stretch before resuming filming in February 2026, but no outlet has given a specific reason for the gap.
When does Guarding Stars come out?
November 18, 2026, on Netflix.
