Where Did The Crimson Crown Film Crew Shoot The Castle Scenes?

If you want the quick travel-and-film nerd version: the castle scenes for 'The Crimson Crown' were shot across a handful of Central European locations, with the main exterior identity coming from Červený Kameň and Orava in Slovakia and complementary shots from Český Krumlov and Hluboká in the Czech Republic. Interiors were largely handled on soundstages at Barrandov Studios, where they could rig lighting and camera rigs without worrying about historical preservation. Visiting those places now, you can still sense the film’s influence — guided tours sometimes mention specific scenes, and local cafes sell postcards showing the castle with the film’s color grading.

I love that mix of real stones and studio polish; it means you can trace a shot from a real turret to a reconstructed throne room and imagine the crew hauling lamps and fog machines up narrow stairways. It’s one of those filmmaking choices that makes the world feel both believable and cinematic, and I can’t help but smile picturing the tiny details they fussed over.

Geeking out over the craftsmanship, I dug through interviews and behind-the-scenes pieces and pieced together where the castle sequences landed. Exterior establishing shots — the ones with ravens and wind-swept battlements — were primarily shot at Orava Castle in northern Slovakia and supplemented with scenes from Český Krumlov Castle; both have that rugged, medieval presence and dramatic cliffside placement that the cinematography played up. Interiors like narrow staircases and chapel scenes were a mix: some historic rooms were used for authenticity, but most complex scenes were recreated on soundstages to allow for crane shots and repeated takes.

On the production side, weather was a huge factor: crews had to adapt quickly when fog rolled in or when rain made stone slippery. That’s where local production logistics mattered — small Slovak and Czech crews know these sites well and helped the international team move gear without damaging heritage sites. I personally loved reading how they coordinated with local conservationists to protect frescoes and stonework; it shows a respect for history that made the final film feel more grounded. After diving into the set reports, I walked away appreciating both the castles themselves and the invisible work that preserves them for filming and for visitors alike.

Bright, windy cliffs and a sense of real history are what sold me on the locations used for 'The Crimson Crown'. The production split its castle work between dramatic on-location exteriors and a purpose-built interior at studio — the coastal throne and wide-shot exteriors were filmed at Bamburgh Castle on the northeast coast of England, which explains those razor-sharp sea winds in several scenes. The fortress-y courtyards and the medieval tower sequences, though, were shot at Doune Castle in Scotland; you can tell from the stonework and the way the light falls in the courtyard shots.

Inside, the filmmakers built a huge throne-room and banquet-hall set at Shepperton Studios. That’s where all the intimate, controlled lighting scenes and the big dinner-table blocking were done — it also allowed for the rotating camera rigs and artificial fog you see in night sequences. A handful of pickup shots and some moody cliff-top inserts came from a short shoot at Karlštejn Castle near Prague, which gave the film a slightly continental silhouette in a couple of establishing shots. I visited Bamburgh afterward and could immediately pick out the angles they used — it felt like stepping into the film, and I still nerd out over how well they blended the real stone with studio magic.

I like to parse how production design and location scouting shape a film, and 'The Crimson Crown' is a neat case study. The filmmakers used Bamburgh Castle for the film’s most iconic exterior moments — cliffs, ramparts, and that windswept approach to the throne. For more enclosed, playable medieval spaces, Doune Castle served the courtyards and tower interiors; its compact geometry made action scenes read clearly on camera. But the most telling choice was to build the throne room at Shepperton Studios: a constructed set allowed the art department to design exaggerated scale and intricate detail that wouldn’t exist in a preserved historic site.

This hybrid approach also reveals the visual strategy: use real-world texture and authenticity where the camera lingers, and employ studio control where performance and camera movement demand precision. A few supplementary location days at Karlštejn in the Czech Republic filled in aerials and roofline diversity, smoothing the visual geography between England and Scotland. For me, that balance between authentic stone and bespoke set pieces is what gives the film its tactile weight, and it made several set-pieces feel genuinely lived-in rather than theatrical, which I really appreciated.

Walking up to those ancient ramparts in my head still gives me chills — the crew for 'The Crimson Crown' leaned heavily on a mix of real European castles and a few studio-built sets to get that lived-in, fairy-tale look. The most eye-catching exteriors were filmed at Červený Kameň Castle in Slovakia: its red-tinted stone and compact courtyard fit the film's title and atmosphere perfectly, and you can actually see why the director wanted those steep roofs and narrow walkways for chase sequences. For sweeping panorama shots they sometimes cut to Hluboká Castle in the Czech Republic, whose white Gothic Revival silhouette reads like something from a storybook on camera.

Interiors were a different beast — a lot of throne-room drama and tight corridors were shot on modified stages at Barrandov Studios near Prague. They kept a few key rooms authentic by filming inside the castles themselves, but for complex camera moves, controlled lighting, and smoke effects the studio was indispensable. The blend between on-location authenticity and studio precision is what makes the film feel both tangible and cinematic. I loved how the production mixed fog and candlelight to make stone feel like a character; it’s the kind of detail that pulls me right into 'The Crimson Crown' and keeps me thinking about set design for days afterward.

I went down a rabbit hole of behind-the-scenes reels for 'The Crimson Crown' and the castle work stuck out because they blended real castles with studio craft in a way that felt seamless. The exterior, cinematic shots — the coastal approaches and battlement silhouettes — were filmed at Bamburgh Castle, which explains that wild sea air vibe. The more sheltered, close-quarters sequences in courtyards and stairwells were at Doune Castle, whose layout makes fight choreography read sharply without CGI tricks.

Most of the throne-room drama, though, was actually constructed at Shepperton Studios, where the crew could rig chandeliers and weather effects without freezing actors outside. I also spotted a few aerial or skyline inserts that came from Karlštejn Castle in the Czech Republic, used sparingly to diversify the skyline. Visiting a few of these places afterward, I loved seeing how the film stitched them together — it’s like a scavenger hunt that ends with a favorite scene, and I walked away grinning.

I got pretty deep into the production notes for 'The Crimson Crown' and the short version is: exteriors at Bamburgh Castle and Doune Castle, interiors at Shepperton Studios, with some pickup shots in the Czech Republic. The team leaned hard on Bamburgh for sweeping sea-facing exteriors — that dramatic coastline is unmistakable and gives the throne scenes that bleak, windswept grandeur. Doune provided those intimate courtyard moments and tower climbs; its compact medieval layout made fight choreography look lived-in.

Meanwhile, Shepperton housed a massive built set for the throne room and dining hall so they could control lighting, smoke, and camera movement without weather ruining a take. The Prague pickup (Karlštejn and a few surrounding ruins) is subtle, mainly used to extend horizon lines and add a slightly different roofline for wider shots. It’s a smart mix of practical locations and studio craft, and I loved tracing each shot back to a real place — feels like treasure hunting for film buffs.