Where Was The TV Show Filmed?

Here's a quick run-down of his on-screen debuts that I always tell friends about. I got hooked on his work because his timing and emotional weight felt older than his years. His major television breakthrough was on 'This Is Us', which debuted on NBC on September 20, 2016. He joined the show as the teenage version of Randall Pearson in later-season flashbacks and that role is what introduced him to a mainstream TV audience and made casting directors take note. Before that mainstream exposure he did smaller projects, shorts and guest spots that helped him build a reel, but nothing matched the visibility of 'This Is Us'. On the film side, his most widely recognized feature debut came with 'The Fallout', which premiered at the SXSW film festival in March 2021 and then rolled out to wider streaming and release windows afterward. That movie gave him a different kind of spotlight — more intimate, indie-driven, and emotionally raw — contrasting nicely with the network TV family drama that made him a household face. I still find it cool how he moved from quieter early work into these two very different kinds of projects; both shaped his trajectory in ways I didn’t expect but loved to watch evolve.

That show had such a nostalgic vibe, didn't it? I binged it last summer and couldn't get enough of those coastal scenes. Turns out, most of 'The Summer' was filmed in Portugal—specifically around the Algarve region. The production team really leaned into those golden cliffs and turquoise waters. Some interior shots were done in Lisbon studios, but the beachfront episodes? All real locations. I actually looked up travel blogs afterward because the scenery made me want to book a flight immediately. What's wild is how they used lesser-known spots instead of tourist traps. Praia da Marinha stood out with its crescent-shaped coves, and those cliffside dinner scenes? Shot near Carvoeiro. The show's cinematographer did an interview about chasing the 'magic hour' light there, which explains why every sunset looked like a painting. Makes me appreciate location scouting even more—those views weren't just backdrops; they became characters.

Tracing the real-world locations of 'Game of Thrones' is one of my favorite rabbit holes — the show really went globe-trotting to make Westeros and beyond feel alive. A huge chunk of the key location filming happened in Northern Ireland, where the production built extensive sets at Titanic Studios in Belfast and used places like Castle Ward as Winterfell, the haunting Dark Hedges as the Kingsroad, and Ballintoy Harbour for the Iron Islands. Those rugged coasts and misty forests are pure atmospheric gold on screen. Beyond Northern Ireland, the production leaned heavily on Croatia for King's Landing after the early Malta stint. Dubrovnik and its fortresses, especially Fort Lovrijenac, became synonymous with King's Landing’s sun-drenched walls. Spain contributed a lot too: the Alcázar of Seville doubled as Dorne’s Water Gardens, and several castles and landscapes across Andalusia and the Basque Country served as Dragonstone and other southern locales. Iceland supplied the stark, frozen vistas north of the Wall that you can practically feel in your bones when you watch those scenes. What I love most is how the mix of studio craftsmanship and real locations makes the world feel tactile — the built sets in Belfast mesh with the dramatic cliffs of Northern Ireland and the ancient stone of Dubrovnik to create a seamless, cinematic whole. Visiting any of these spots afterward, you can still catch glimpses of Ygritte’s camp, the Hound’s marches, or a dragon landing in the imagination, which is why these places stick with me long after the credits roll.

I get excited whenever people ask about where 'In the Dark' was filmed because location work is one of my favorite behind-the-scenes rabbit holes. If you're talking about the American series on The CW (the one with Murphy Mason), it’s actually set in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but most of the shooting took place in and around Toronto, Ontario. Toronto and some nearby Ontario towns stand in for Tulsa a lot — you’ll spot suburban streets, storefronts, and some civic buildings that read as Midwestern America on screen. Production used various Toronto-area neighborhoods and occasional one-off spots in places like Hamilton or Cambridge to get the look they wanted. If instead you mean the British miniseries also called 'In the Dark', that one was shot in the UK — mostly around Manchester and the northwest of England. The feel and architecture are very different from the CW show: you’ll see more brick terraces, northern town centers, and moody British exteriors. I love comparing the two because the same title gives totally different vibes depending on which country’s production you’re watching, and that’s all down to where they chose to shoot. A fun trick if you want to confirm specific episodes: check the end credits or the filming locations on episode pages at IMDb or fan wikis. That’s how I matched a particular scene to an exact Toronto intersection once — it’s oddly satisfying.

The filming locations for 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy are almost as legendary as the movies themselves! Peter Jackson turned New Zealand into Middle-earth, and it’s wild how perfectly the landscapes fit Tolkien’s world. The Shire’s rolling hills? That’s the Alexander Farm in Matamata—still a tourist hotspot. The eerie peaks of Mordor were shot in Tongariro National Park, with its active volcanoes adding real danger vibes. And let’s not forget the breathtaking Rivendell scenes filmed in Kaitoke Regional Park. What’s crazy is how New Zealand’s diversity mirrored the story’s realms—lush forests, jagged mountains, even volcanic deserts. No wonder tourism exploded there post-filming; I’d geek out standing where Frodo carried the Ring too. Fun side note: Some spots, like Hobbiton, were left intact as permanent sets. They even added new hobbit holes for 'The Hobbit' films. The detail is insane—smoke from chimneys, tiny clotheslines—it feels like hobbits might pop out any second. If you ever visit, the night banquet feast at Hobbiton is a must. Eating lamb stew under party lights in the Green Dragon Inn? Pure magic.

I never get tired of tracing where my favorite shows are actually made, and the Sheldon-centric universe is a fun one because it spans two very different production styles. The original sitcom 'The Big Bang Theory' was mainly shot on soundstages in Los Angeles — specifically at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank — where the multi-camera format and live audience setup gave the show that theatrical, laugh-track energy. The apartment, the hallway, the comic book store: those were meticulously built sets on stages, dressed and redressed for seasons, and the whole production had that classic studio sitcom rhythm. Watching a taping or clips of rehearsals you can really feel the difference between a stage-bound sitcom and something filmed single-camera. The spin-off 'Young Sheldon' takes a different tack. It's a single-camera show that recreates 1980s East Texas childhood with a lot more location work and cinematic framing, but it was still produced in Los Angeles. Most of the interior work — the Cooper household, school interiors, and other recurring indoor spaces — was filmed on LA stages, while some exterior shots and establishing footage lean on locations that evoke small-town Texas. Producers blend staged interiors with select on-location exteriors to sell the Texas setting visually. So, in short: both shows were produced in California, but 'The Big Bang Theory' leaned on the classic multi-camera studio model in Burbank, and 'Young Sheldon' uses a single-camera approach with a mix of studio interiors and Texas-flavored exteriors. If you're the type who likes to geek out over production trivia, that split in filming style explains a lot about how each show feels. 'The Big Bang Theory' thrives on live audience timing and stagecraft, while 'Young Sheldon' aims for a nostalgic, cinematic slice-of-life tone that benefits from actual locations and more flexible shooting. For me, knowing where things were filmed makes rewatching more fun — I start paying attention to camera movement, set dressing, and which scenes clearly needed a controlled studio environment. It adds a whole meta-layer to enjoying the characters, and I love spotting the tiny production choices that bring Texas to LA. It’s neat to see modern Hollywood building comfortable, convincing little worlds — I always leave rewatch sessions with a fresh detail to admire.

This feels like telling a local secret: most of the big outdoor scenes for the TV series 'Hawk Mountain' were shot right at the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary ridge in Kempton, Pennsylvania. The production leaned on that dramatic ridgeline, the stone lookouts, and the sweeping vistas where raptors migrate — the natural wind-swept cliffs give the show its visual identity. You can tell they favored real weather and light instead of faking everything in a studio. That said, not every interior or night sequence was on the mountain. A lot of the close-ups and dialogue-heavy indoor scenes were filmed on soundstages in Toronto, where they had more control over lighting and continuity. The crew also did pick-up shots and establishing photography in nearby Lehigh Valley towns like Reading and Kutztown, which doubled for the show's small-town streets. I love that mix: raw Pennsylvania outdoors for the soul of the show and Canadian stages for the technical polish — it makes the world feel lived-in and cinematic to me.

Growing up near old stone houses gave me a soft spot for locations that breathe history, so when I found out where the TV adaptation of 'The Old Place' shot its exterior scenes, I was thrilled. The production used an actual centuries-old manor outside of York—an ivy-clad Jacobean house with leaded windows and a sagging porch that made every frame feel lived-in. That exterior was complemented by wild, windswept moorland not far from the house; those long shots of the estate against low, gray skies were filmed on the North York Moors, which explains the way the landscape almost becomes a character. Inside, though, they moved to a studio setup a couple of hours away where period rooms were rebuilt to allow for lighting, camera rigs, and damp-proofing. Practical fireplaces, original woodwork salvaged from other historic properties, and careful dressing made the transitions seamless. It’s the kind of mix that seduces me: authentic bones outside, controlled craftsmanship inside. The result felt grounded and cinematic, and I loved spotting little bits of the real house in every close-up.

The Walton family’s heartwarming home wasn’t just a set—it was a real place that became iconic. The exteriors were filmed at the Schuyler, Virginia, homestead, which was actually the childhood home of Earl Hamner Jr., the creator of 'The Waltons.' The house itself is now a museum called the Walton’s Mountain Museum, and fans can visit to see replicas of the show’s sets, like John-Boy’s bedroom and the Waltons’ kitchen. It’s wild how a small-town location became so tied to American nostalgia. Indoor scenes, though, were shot on a soundstage in Burbank, California. Hollywood magic made it seamless—viewers never noticed the jump from Virginia’s rolling hills to a studio lot. It’s funny how TV can stitch together such different places into one cohesive world. If you ever get to Schuyler, the museum’s guestbook is full of messages from fans who still feel like the Waltons are family.