Where was Hoth filmed?

By: Jake Rajala

George Lucas’s baby, Star Wars, is a diverse and beautiful franchise. They check these boxes in large part to having impressive locations. One of the locations in “Empire Strikes Back”, which is arguably the best Star Wars film, is Planet Hoth. We all remember AT-AT Walkers on the frozen ground, as they shoot at the rebel base. Even Luke Skywalker was attacked by a yeti-like creature. Thankfully, Han Solo saved his life.

The question is: where was Hoth filmed?

Well, it was filmed in none other than Norway. Norway, similar to Sweden and Finland, is quite beautiful. To be more specific, it was shot in Finse. So, a fascinating question is: What is the population of Finse? Is is it a hundred thousand? Surely, it must be very popular after the movie. Well, the population is 10-30 people! Yes, you read that correctly. It is home to a railway and a hotel.

Hi from Hoth! ❄️ #StarWars

I took the Railway to reach Finse, a little mountain village that is the gateway to a galaxy far far away:

In ”Star Wars V – The Empire Strikes Back“ the area appeared as the ice planet Hoth, home of the Rebel Alliance‘s secret Echo Base. 🎬 pic.twitter.com/xbAhWVjGBo

— Andrea David (@filmtourismus) August 6, 2020

The setting reminds me of my hometown. I live in Houghton, Michigan. It’s freezing in the winter, yet it still has very attractive outdoors. The only drawback is that it gets dark out too soon in the day.

It’s safe to say that the Star Wars heads were thinking outside the box with their decision to shoot it in a freezing section of Norway. Besides North Korea and a few other areas, there isn’t a portion of Earth that is crossed off their list.

I hope that Star Wars goes full circle and has another movie including Norway again. After all, they won’t have competition (besides potentially Family Guy) in the location.