Get ready to visit the fictional worlds of Ravka and Kerch once more, as fans of Leigh Bardugo's popular Grishaverse novels are transported back in the second season of Netflix adaptation Shadow and Bone.

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While fans will likely once again be mostly caught up with the colourful characters and fantastical plot, they might find themselves wondering just where the series was shot to capture such stunning visuals.

Like the first season, the second season was shot in Hungary, but what were some of the specific locations used to double up for the fictional locale?

Read on for everything you need to know about the filming locations used for Shadow and Bone.

Where was Shadow and Bone filmed?

SHADOW AND BONE Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX © 2021
Shadow and Bone. Netflix

Like with the first season, the vast majority of filming for Shadow and Bone season 2 took place in Budapest and its surrounding areas, with the shoot lasting from January to June 2022.

Season 1, meanwhile, was shot between October 2019 until March 2020, just before pandemic restrictions came into place.

According to star Amita Suman, who plays Inej, it was a relief to be able to complete filming on the first season just in time. "We finished in March, and we were hearing the word 'COVID' and people… you know, the rumours of it," she told RadioTimes.com at the time.

"We didn’t really know what it was. And after arriving in the UK, literally a week later, everything went into lockdown. Borders were closing down. It literally felt like an apocalypse was at our doorstep. We were really lucky we filmed literally a week before."

Archie Renaux as Malyen Oretsev and Jessie Mei Li as Alina Starkov in Shadow and Bone.
Archie Renaux as Malyen Oretsev and Jessie Mei Li as Alina Starkov in Shadow and Bone. Dávid Lukács/Netflix

Much of the filming took place at Budapest's Origo Studios, but plenty of scenes were also shot on location. Some of these specific locations reportedly included Buda Castle, the Budapest Stock Exchange and Festetics Palace in Keszthely.

Other locations used included the Royal Palace of Gödöllő, the Szentendre Skanzen Village Museum, the Palace of Justice, the Amadé-Bajzáth-Pappenheim Castle, Budapest's main square and the town of Szentendre.

According to Suman, Shooting outdoor scenes was sometimes quite a challenge for the cast, owing to the freezing temperatures.

She explained: "They have got an amazing studio there, and the country is so beautiful. We had a really great summer and a bloody cold winter – my gosh.

"Inej is such a still character, and there were days when it was like minus 10 degrees on set, and I just could not stop shivering. And saying your lines when your jaw is just chattering… It was a challenge!"

Shadow and Bone is not the first major Netflix fantasy series to be filmed in Hungary – with The Witcher and The Last Kingdom also having been partly shot there.

A few additional shoots for the first season also took place in Vancouver, Canada.

Shadow and Bone season 2 is arriving on Netflix on Thursday 16th March. Season 1 is streaming now. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.Check out more of our Fantasy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to see what's on tonight.

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Authors

Patrick Cremona, RadioTimes.com's senior film writer looking at the camera and smiling
Patrick CremonaSenior Film Writer

Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.

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