The Okanagan is a favourite for Lifetime producers, but the latest feature in production arrived in the area as the smoky conditions became hazardous.

Rizzoli and Isles and Law and Order star Angie Harmon has been in Kelowna working on Buried in Barstow 2, a sequel to her movie about a hit woman turned diner owner. It was set to begin shooting in July on locations in Kelowna, Westbank First Nation and around the Central Okanagan, according to a release from Production List.

Harmon posted a video of her first visit to a Canadian Tire. She seemed impressed.

“The Kelowna area offers a diverse visual palette, from lakefront and downtown urban settings to desert-adjacent terrain and agricultural landscapes, all of which suit the dusty, sun-baked aesthetic the Buried in Barstow franchise has built its identity around,” Production List said in the release.

Harmon posted photos online with wildfire smoke in the sky on Aug. 2, shortly after the Bradley Creek and Quilpituk Creek fires started.

For years Kelowna has been a hotspot for holiday movies and recently the Okanagan has attracted several reality shows, so this big name thriller is a bit out of the norm.

“The BC Interior has been building its below-the-line infrastructure steadily, and productions like this one are part of that growth story,” Production List said.

Production List said B.C.’s film and TV tax credit system is helping attract bigger productions to the Interior.

“Kelowna and the surrounding Okanagan Valley have become increasingly attractive to productions of this scale, and it is not hard to see why. British Columbia’s film and television tax credit program extends its benefits to productions shooting outside of the Metro Vancouver corridor, and the Interior BC designation can unlock additional incentive percentages that make the economics genuinely compelling for mid-budget Lifetime-tier productions,” Production List said.

Buried in Barstow 2 is set to be released sometime in 2027.