Wednesday is an American television series set in Vermont. The coming-of-age supernatural mystery show aired its first season on Netflix in November 2022. Set in the small town of Jericho, Vermont, it is based on characters from the iconic Addams family created by Charles Addams. Wednesday follows the adventures of the teenage titular character in the new boarding school for outcast supernatural beings and the struggles of a high school student with the supernatural thrown in.
Tim Burton, known for his films that mix dark fantasy and gothic elements, is the show's executive producer and directs four of the first season's eight episodes. Due to its extraordinary popularity, the show was renewed for a second season. It is currently in post-production and aims for a potential 2025 release.
Wednesday revolves around a series of murders that take place in Nevermore Academy and how Wednesday finds the killers despite facing significant difficulties. What follows is an eccentric whodunit involving gothic castles and big bad monsters, as well as culture clashes between the human residents of the quaint little town and the outcasts of Nevermore.
The eerie and unsettling vibe of the show, which is consistently maintained, can be attributed to the amazing filming locations. Although very much a real town, the show was not shot in Jericho. Instead, the filming locations were chosen meticulously to get the vibe of the small town and its supernatural academy set in the adjacent forest. They were shot entirely in the gothic ravines of Romania.
Exploring all the Gothic filming locations of Wednesday
1) Buftea Studios
The set for the entire small town of Jericho, Vermont, along with 70 other sets, was built at Bucharest Film Studios of Buftea. It included crucial locations like the coffee shop, town square, and pilgrim world. This provided an uncanny and eerie vibe to the gorgeous natural beauty of Vermont.
Further, some exterior shots set near Nevermore were filmed on location. The Poe Cup sequence, for example, on season 1 episode 2 of the show, a riff on the Triwizard tournament in the Harry Potter series, was shot across the two Romanian lakes of Sterbei and Brănești.
Also, the Burlington train station sequences were filmed at an actual station, the Gara Regala, commonly known as the Royal Train station, located in the mountain town Sinaia in the Busteni region.
2. Bazinul De Înot Dinamo Tolea Grințescu (The Dinamo Swimming Pool)
The Dinamo Olympic Swimming Pool in Bucharest, Romania, is part of the multipurpose Dinamo Sports Park, which was shut down in 2022. The pool features the bizarre and controversial opening torture scene of Wednesday on the show's very first episode.
The pool is a popular shooting location and has also been featured in many other popular spy thriller series, including Killing Eve.
3. Cantacuzino Castle
The gothic and spooky ambiance of the Nevermore Academy was attained by using multiple buildings in different capacities. The most notable ones were the ariel and exterior shots of the academy in Cantacuzino castle, situated in Brusteni, Romania, amidst the Carpathian mountains.
The exterior shots of the castle were duly blended with CGI to fit the gothic aesthetic of the original The Addams Family series. One notable fact about this castle is that it was once the summer home of the Romanian Prime Minister Gheorghe Grigore Cantacuzino.
4. Bucharest Botanical Gardens
The delightfully gorgeous greenhouse featured in the show was shot in the Bucharest Botanical Gardens. This stunning garden features almost 45 acres of lush greenery, including a herb garden, lily pond, and giant pine trees.
5. Palatul Monteoru & Casa Niculescu-Dorobantu
The show's interior sequences were shot around two towering specimens of Gothic architecture: Palatul Monterou and Casa Niculescu-Dorobantu.
Casa Niculescu-Dorobantu is located in Bucharest and was constructed in a French Neo-Gothic style. Its ornate staircase and stained glass windows are featured extensively in the show, as is the interior of Nevermore Academy.
Palatul Monterou, built around 1874 in downtown Bucharest, used to be the Romanian Writers’ Union’s headquarters. Today, it is an iconic center of arts and culture that hosts exhibitions, fairs, and live music.
6. Politechnica University of Bucharest
Politehnica University of Bucharest, one of Romania's largest technical universities, is situated in Bucharest and was used as a location in the opening scene of the series.
The university, founded in 1818, was used as a stand-in for Nancy Reagan High School, which Wednesday used to attend before getting kicked out.
Tim Burton on the filming locations of Wednesday
In a press release via House Beautiful, Tim Burton was all praises about Romania as the show's preferred filming location, saying:
“Weirdly fit into the Addams Family world.”
He also spoke about the challenge of making Romania stand in for Vermont. He further added that this challenge made them find many new locations.
Another reason Wednesday was decided to be shot in Romania instead of Toronto, the initially decided location, was the high production cost. Moreover, the creative team also felt that Toronto did not have the necessary vibe for Wednesday. Ultimately, Romania was finalized because of its proximity to Bucharest, the production’s base.
Stay tuned to Soap Central for more updates on Wednesday!
