Where was The Wonder Filmed? Netflix Filming Locations Explored

A movie pertaining to the folk horror/mystery category needs a good, remote setting to hone its feeling of isolation and we reveal where Netflix’s The Wonder was filmed to do just that.

Florence Pugh returns in her second movie of the year, after Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling, and it’s arriving on Netflix after its limited cinema release.

Directed by Sebastián Lelio, the period drama The Wonder follows Nurse Lib Wright, who is asked to tend to a girl who has not eaten for months within a rural village in 1862 Ireland, starring Pugh, Tom Burke, Elaine Cassidy, Kíla Lord Cassidy, Niamh Algar, Toby Jones, and Ciarán Hinds.

• MORE: Is Netflix’s The Wonder Based on a True Story?

Where was The Wonder Filmed?

The Wonder was filmed entirely in Ireland, visiting writer of the source material Emma Donoghue’s native country.

In particular, the region of County Wicklow was visited by the crew, situated south of Dublin, for its ominous mountains and Irish Sea coastline. 

Principle photography began in August 2021 and Irish Central reported that The Wonder is the first film project commissioned out of the UK by Fiona Lamptey, director of U.K. features for Netflix.

Lamptey released a statement highlighting the film’s criteria for leading the UK and Ireland slate at Netflix:

“The Wonder has everything we’re looking for at Netflix for our UK and Ireland Film slate — a rich, authentic story that comes from these shores along with creative excellence across source material, script, director, and actors. I’m incredibly excited to work with such outstanding talent on a unique female lead story. Creating opportunities for UK and Irish talent like Florence in ambitious, distinctive stories of scale — embedded in our landscape — is a key commitment for the film slate we are building here.”

Pugh Favors Guinness While On Location

Lead actor Florence Pugh kept her fans up to date with her time filming in Ireland and appeared to be partial to the odd Guinness.

Sharing a photo of her gripping a settling pint, Pugh announced that the Guinness was “delicious.”

The actor shared a number of other posts admiring Ireland’s scenic expanse with “less traffic” and thanked the locals of Co Wicklow for helping to turn their rural village into an 1860s set.   

• MORE: Where to Watch The Wonder – Limited Cinema Release Explained

 The Wonder is Set After Ireland’s Great Famine

During an interview with NPR in 2016, The Wonder writer Donaghue explained the narrative was set in the decade after Ireland’s Great Famine:

“That allowed me to set it in the context that I found richest for this kind of story. I set in my homeland of Ireland but in the decade after our Great Famine because I wanted to set the idea of voluntary starving against the appalling context of involuntary starving. And I also wanted to draw on the cultural background that I know best, which is Irish Catholicism.”

Ireland’s beautiful expanse also lends the mystery its sense of isolation while this intriguing case unfolds in front of viewers.

By Jo Craig – [email protected]

The Wonder releases Wednesday, November 16, 2022, on Netflix.