North of North Season 2 was filmed in Iqaluit, Nunavut and Toronto, Ontario. Production on the eight-episode second season ran from late February 2026 through April 2026, with the cast and crew returning to the same Iqaluit streets and neighbourhoods that stood in for the fictional Arctic hamlet of Ice Cove in Season 1.
The show remains Netflix’s only scripted series set entirely in Nunavut. Created by Inuk filmmakers Stacey Aglok MacDonald and Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, North of North shoots on real Iqaluit streets by design. Both creators are from Nunavut, and they built the show around the conviction that Inuit audiences deserve to see their actual communities on screen, not a studio reconstruction of them.
North of North Season 2 Filming Locations at a Glance
| What You See on Screen | Real Location | Where It Is |
|---|---|---|
| Ice Cove town exterior, establishing shots | Apex neighbourhood, Iqaluit | 5 km southeast of downtown Iqaluit |
| Neevee’s Survival Shop | Building on Simonie Michael Lane, Apex | Apex, Iqaluit, Nunavut |
| Street scenes, road closures during filming | Simonie Michael Lane + Jack Anawak Street | Iqaluit city centre |
| Siaja’s house | Paurngaq Crescent, Tundra Valley | Iqaluit, Nunavut |
| Community centre (Ice Cove Community Centre) | Unikkaarvik Visitor Centre, 220 Sinaa Street | Iqaluit, Nunavut |
| Spring festival, outdoor crowd scenes | Imiqtarviminiq lake, Road to Nowhere | Iqaluit, Nunavut |
| Interior soundstage sets | Iqaluit Curling Club (repurposed as studio) | Iqaluit, Nunavut |
| Additional interior sets built for Season 1 | Toronto, Ontario (sets preserved after Season 1) | Toronto, Ontario |
| Wide landscape establishing shots | Pangnirtung Fjord, Baffin Island | 295 km northeast of Iqaluit |
| Water and boat scenes | Lake Ontario | Ontario (doubling for Arctic water bodies) |
Why Season 2 Came Back to Iqaluit?
A production returning to a remote Arctic city for a second season is not a given. Iqaluit sits on Baffin Island with no road or rail connection to the rest of Canada. Every piece of equipment comes in by air, a three-hour flight minimum from southern Canada. Accommodation is limited. The cold in late winter and spring is not a backdrop – it is a logistical factor in every shooting day.
The crew came back anyway.
The reason is in the show’s DNA. Both creators hold that filming in Iqaluit is not a stylistic choice but a cultural commitment. In their words, the show was made for Inuit audiences first. Shooting in a studio in Vancouver with a fake Arctic backdrop would undercut the whole point.
Season 2 production in Iqaluit began in late February 2026, with road closures on Simonie Michael Lane and Jack Anawak Street confirmed by the city of Iqaluit for March 2 and 3, 2026.
One of the first visible signs that Ice Cove was back: a sign for Neevee’s Survival Shop went up on a building on Simonie Michael Lane in the Apex neighbourhood, drawing locals who gathered on snowmobiles to watch the crew set up.
The Real Iqaluit Locations in North of North
Apex – Ice Cove
Apex is the small community about five kilometres southeast of downtown Iqaluit, and it carries the heaviest load of any location in the show. The establishing shot of Ice Cove comes from Apex. Neevee’s Survival Shop sits in Apex.
Siaja’s snowmobile route between her house and her mother’s house runs through Apex. The neighbourhood traditionally carries the Inuktitut name Niaqunngut, and its history runs deeper than television: it was one of three “Crystal” weather monitoring sites in the Canadian Arctic during World War II.
The production designed the Survival Shop signage directly onto an existing Apex building. Locals could walk past it between takes.
Unikkaarvik Visitor Centre – 220 Sinaa Street
The Unikkaarvik Visitor Centre is where Siaja works. In the show it is the Ice Cove Community Centre; in real life it is Iqaluit’s main cultural hub for visitors, housing exhibits on Inuit history and wildlife. The building’s distinct architecture, built to reflect Inuit design principles reads on screen as exactly the kind of place a small Arctic town would have as its civic centre.
Siaja’s House – Paurngaq Crescent, Tundra Valley
The house used for Siaja and Ting’s home in Season 1 sits at the end of a cul-de-sac in Tundra Valley, Iqaluit’s residential neighbourhood to the north of downtown. Its position at the far end of the street gave the filming team the sense of isolation they wanted: the last house, facing the ocean. Season 2 returns to it. The exterior also doubles as the Ice Cove Post Office in at least one episode, which means the same building plays two roles depending on the camera angle.
Iqaluit Curling Club – The Soundstage
No filming studio exists in Iqaluit. For Season 1, the production team rented the Iqaluit Curling Club and converted it into an interior soundstage. This is where sets for Siaja’s kitchen, Neevee’s interiors, and the community centre’s indoor spaces were built and shot.
The club’s exterior also appears on screen in Episode 3 as the community post office. After Season 1 wrapped, the curling club returned to hosting curling. The Season 2 production had to work out interior space again for the new episodes.
Imiqtarviminiq Lake – Road to Nowhere
The spring festival scene in Season 1’s first episode was shot on a frozen lake called Imiqtarviminiq, located along a road in Iqaluit called, without irony, the Road to Nowhere. The lake offers uninterrupted Arctic horizon in every direction – no buildings, no infrastructure visible, which is exactly what an outdoor community celebration in a remote hamlet needs to look convincing.
Pangnirtung Fjord – The Landscape Shots
Not everything that looks like Nunavut was shot in Iqaluit. The wide fjord landscapes used as establishing shots for the broader Arctic world come from Pangnirtung, a community 295 kilometres northeast of Iqaluit on Baffin Island. Its fjord system is one of the most photographed landscapes in the Canadian Arctic. Several of the show’s most cinematic wide shots come from here.
Toronto’s Role: Interior Sets and Standing Sets from Season 1
Some parts of North of North have been shot in Toronto, Ontario. In Season 1, Lake Ontario doubled for Arctic water in the hunting and boat scenes – its sheer scale meant the camera could frame open water with no southern-Canadian skyline in sight. Season 2 continues the dual-city model.
The more important Toronto element for Season 2 is the standing sets. After Season 1 wrapped, the production kept several interior sets intact rather than striking them. The decision was practical: rebuilding detailed interior environments from scratch in Iqaluit is expensive and slow.
Keeping Toronto sets standing meant Season 2 could pick up interior shooting quickly. Expect the Toronto component to cover interior scenes that the curling club soundstage would otherwise need to handle.
Is Ice Cove a real place?
Ice Cove does not exist. It is a fictional hamlet invented by Stacey Aglok MacDonald and Alethea Arnaquq-Baril for the show. However, the show’s final episode drops a clue about where the show’s universe places it: a map in the Season 1 finale shows Ice Cove as being located on Prince of Wales Island, which sits between Nunavut’s Qikiqtaaluk and Kitikmeot regions. No community exists there in real life.
Every exterior scene you see in Ice Cove was shot in Iqaluit and Apex. The Inuktitut place names, the landscape, the architecture of the coloured buildings, the sea ice, the snowmobiles – all of it is real Iqaluit. The fictional name is the only thing that isn’t.
Anna Lambe, who plays Siaja, is from Iqaluit. She grew up on those streets. The show’s authenticity comes from the fact that for most of the cast, this is not a location shoot, it is home.
When does North of North Season 2 come out?
Season 2 premieres on CBC and APTN in Canada on September 8, 2026, with eight episodes running weekly through September 29, 2026. Netflix has not confirmed a global premiere date. Season 1 debuted on CBC in January 2025 and reached Netflix globally in April 2025 – a three-month gap.
If Season 2 follows the same pattern, expect the Netflix release sometime between October and December 2026.
Canadian viewers can stream Season 1 and Season 2 (after its September premiere) on CBC Gem for free. Netflix subscribers outside Canada will need to wait for the global drop.
RELATED: North of North Season 2 – Everything We Know (release date, cast, plot)
Frequently Asked Questions
Where was North of North Season 2 filmed?
North of North Season 2 was filmed in Iqaluit, Nunavut and Toronto, Ontario. Production ran from late February through April 2026. The Apex neighbourhood of Iqaluit stood in for most Ice Cove exterior scenes, including Neevee’s Survival Shop on Simonie Michael Lane.
No. Ice Cove is a fictional hamlet created for the show. All exterior Ice Cove scenes were filmed in Iqaluit and its Apex neighbourhood. The show’s finale placed Ice Cove on Prince of Wales Island on a map, but no such community exists there.
Where is North of North filmed in Iqaluit?
The main Iqaluit filming locations include: the Apex neighbourhood (town exteriors and Neevee’s Survival Shop), Paurngaq Crescent in Tundra Valley (Siaja’s house), the Unikkaarvik Visitor Centre on 220 Sinaa Street (the community centre), Imiqtarviminiq lake on Road to Nowhere (festival scenes), and the Iqaluit Curling Club (interior soundstage). Landscape shots come from Pangnirtung Fjord, 295 km northeast of Iqaluit.
Was North of North Season 2 filmed in the same place as Season 1?
Yes. Season 2 returned to the same Iqaluit and Apex locations used in Season 1. The Neevee’s Survival Shop sign reappeared on Simonie Michael Lane in February 2026. The city of Iqaluit closed two streets in early March 2026 to allow safe filming.
Why does North of North film in Iqaluit instead of a studio?
The show’s creators, Stacey Aglok MacDonald and Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, are both from Nunavut. They chose Iqaluit deliberately, saying the show was made for Inuit audiences and should reflect real Inuit communities on screen. Lead actress Anna Lambe is also from Iqaluit.
Can you visit the North of North filming locations?
Yes. Iqaluit is accessible by air from Ottawa, Montreal, and Winnipeg. The Apex neighbourhood, Unikkaarvik Visitor Centre, and the general Tundra Valley area where Siaja’s house is located are all accessible to visitors. The Sylvia Grinnell Territorial Park and Qaummaarviit Territorial Historic Park are also near Iqaluit and worth visiting for context on the landscape seen in the show.
