HBO series filmed in La Salle County ready to air

Get your DVRs ready – the premiere date for the HBO series that was filmed in La Salle County in 2018 has finally been announced.

"Lovecraft Country" will air at
9 p.m. on Aug. 16

A portion of Sandy Ford Road (County Highway 5) from Red, White and Blue Bridge Road to Route 23, which includes the Sandy Ford Bridge, was closed for filming in August 2018.

An HBO production company transformed downtown business facades in Elburn along Route 47 into the Main Street of a circa 1955 town to film its dramatic horror TV series.

The series filmed extensively at locations in northern Illinois. Scenes have been filmed on Chicago’s West Side and Elburn, as well as in Ogle County on U.S. 52, and in White Pines State Park. Elburn’s Kountry Kettle, which closed in 2019, was turned into Nanny’s Bakery for the series.

“Lovecraft Country,” which is set in the 1950s, is about a Black man, 22-year-old Army veteran Atticus, who drives across the country searching for his missing father with his Uncle George – publisher of “The Safe Negro Travel Guide” – and his childhood friend Letitia, encountering racism and the evils of Jim Crow America as well as malevolent spirits.

The series stars Jonathan Majors as Atticus, Courtney B. Vance as Uncle George and Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Letitia. It’s produced by Jordan Peele, who wrote and directed the Oscar-winning horror film “Get Out,” and “Lost” creator J.J. Abrams, among others, and is based on the novel by Matt Ruff.