Where is Stranger Things filmed? Season 4’s new filming location

Have stranger things happened than the events of Stranger Things Season Four? We're not sure.

Split into two parts, the Duffer Brothers, who wrote Stranger Things, had fans on the edge of their seats, finishing both parts on squirm-inducing cliff hangers. 

This season fans met the gang's ultimate villain, Vecna, lost yet another main character, and were left with an ending that gave them more questions than answers - seriously, is Max Mayfield going to be ok? 

While we have to wait for the much anticipated fifth season, and therefore the answers to our burning questions, there are some fan queries that can be quickly cleared up. Namely, where is Stranger Things filmed?

Where was Stranger Things filmed?

Stranger Things is primarily shot in Atlanta, Georgia. Until now the paranormal goings-on in the Netflix sci-fi horror have been confined to the fictional, slightly drab, midwestern town of Hawkins meaning the cast and crew had little reason to leave the Southern State. 

But the ending of season three saw the characters split up and venture out, both willingly and unwillingly, meaning the cast and crew got to travel to more locations than ever before to film the fourth season.

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Where is Hawkins in Stranger Things?

The fictional town of Hawkins is actually the town of Jackson in Atlanta, Georgia. The Southern city is a far cry from the Midwest where Hawkins is supposed to be, but it is where you will find iconic spots from across the seasons. Drop by the Wheeler house at 2530 Piney Wood Lane, bike past the Sinclair house just a few doors down at 2550 Piney Wood Lane, and stop by the Henderson house at 2886 Piney Wood Drive. 

Jackson is also home to both Hawkins Middle and High Schools, the Hawkins community pool, the arcade, the rotten pumpkin patch, and even the battlefield for season three's infamous showdown with the Mind Flayer, the Starcourt Mall.

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Where is the Stranger Things house located?

The creepy Creel House can be found in Rome, Georgia just north of Atlanta at 906 E 2nd Ave SW. The home was built in 1882 and most recently operated as a bed and breakfast called the Claremont House until it was permanently closed in March of 2019. 

Production designer Chris Trujillo told CN Traveller, "Atlanta is full of really beautiful and interesting old Victorian houses, but we wanted to get away from the rounded spires and the elements that are really Victorian-inspired. When we found this house, it just had a weight and shape to it. It was more squared off in its details in the upper story, the shape of the roofline was unique. It almost felt like it was leaning toward you in a way that felt heavy and scary."

Like the Creel House in the show, the home is no place to go trespassing - admire the pristine structure from afar.

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Will and El’s new home

Stranger Thing's fictional Californian town of Lenora Hills, California came to life in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Byers, accompanied by El, left the hubbub of Hawkins, opting instead for a quiet time in California. The set of their Lenora Hills home can be found at 13212 Montgomery Boulevard NE in Glenwood Hills, Albuquerque - again, admire from afar.

Stranger Things’ production designer Chris Trujillo discussed the Southwest city with CN Traveler, saying, “I wanted to go to New Mexico and make sure we could accurately recreate Southern California and the Nevada [desert] there.…As soon as I got out there, I knew we could definitely find that world around Albuquerque - the beautiful foothills outside of Albuquerque very much look like parts of Southern California.”

As for the iconic roller rink? The 80s dreamscape was filmed at a New Mexico location called Skate-O-Mania.

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Where is the Russian prison that Hopper is in?

The haunting Russian prison that Hopper finds himself breaking both out of and into, is called Lukiškės Prison and can be found in the Lithuanian city of Vilnius. The scenes showing the remote, snowy part of Russia Hopper finds himself in were filmed in the prison's surrounding wilderness. 

Chris Trujillo said to CN Traveller, “There’s an old - and only recently decommissioned - prison right in the centre of Vilnius, Lukiškės Prison, that’s architecturally very special. It’s an old Tsarist prison and the backstory on it is pretty dark. But as an example of architecture, it’s incredible and inspired us immediately. It has all these multi-story cell blocks that were so cool-looking that made it into the series.” 

David Harbour, who plays Hopper, maybe did not have as good of a time enjoying the snowy hills and Lithuanian architecture as say, all the crew who got to wear shoes. Speaking to Netflix at the Stranger Things premiere the actor revealed, “It was very difficult this year. For me, it was a lot of cold weather. It was barefoot in the snow in Lithuania 20℉ below, and I wasn’t eating a lot of food because I was very emaciated this season. And so it was a brutal season on me, physically and emotionally.”

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How did they film the Upside Down?

The Upside Down is filmed using the real world set to ensure exact parallels between the two worlds. While you might assume the Upside Down is built in post-production using visual effects and CGI, the creepy alternate dimension is actually physically built by adding raw building materials like foam, plastic and something called pussy willow fluff to existing set designs.

Speaking to Netflix, Chris Trujillo revealed more secrets, "Generally, we shoot the real world of the script and then shoot the Upside Down. It’s all the same set.

"We arrived at this approach where we build all these crazy vines and we adhere them to everything and then we have this whole method of painting around them. 

"Visual effects does a lot of extension when we're outside in these vast environments. But when we're inside the Wheeler's house, for instance, or the Byers’ house or any interior environment where we're doing the nether, it's almost always 95% practical. We float different kinds of organic material in the air [when we shoot]. It's some sort of organic pussy willow fluff, basically. It’s a lot of trial and error, but we have a method down, and we’ve got assembly [down] — an Upside Down tentacle-building factory, essentially. "

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When was Stranger Things filmed?

Filming for Stranger Things season 4 began in February 2020, though production was halted not long after due to the pandemic. Cast and crew resumed filming in June 2021 and continued on-and-off for over a year, finally wrapping in September 2021.

"The pandemic definitely massively delayed shooting and therefore the launch of our current season 4," executive producer and director Shawn Levy told Collider. "But it impacted very positively by allowing the Duffer brothers, for the first time ever, to write the entire season before we shoot it and to have time to rewrite in a way that they rarely had before so the quality of these screenplays are exceptional, maybe better than ever."

The pandemic wasn't the only setback when filming Stranger Things season 4. A large fire broke out at Netflix's studios in Albuquerque, New Mexico in early August of 2021. This is where production for Stranger Things had moved to for the fourth season. Thankfully, a Netflix representative confirmed to Newsweek that the fire broke out in an old building that was due to be demolished. And that no sets or personnel were harmed during the incident.