The set of Netflix’s Wednesday, the latest addition to Bucharest’s tourist circuit
The outdoor sets of Netflix’s smash hit show Wednesday are still standing just outside Bucharest and can be visited during weekends for a limited time. More details on what awaits those planning to see the site and how to sign up for a…
Radu Dumitrescu · Journalist
· Updated · 4 min read
The outdoor sets of Netflix’s smash hit show Wednesday are still standing just outside Bucharest and can be visited during weekends for a limited time. More details on what awaits those planning to see the site and how to sign up for a tour in this account of a visit there.
Wednesday, directed by Tim Burton and starring Jenna Ortega, was filmed in several locations in Romania. Most of them are in Bucharest, such as the Polytechnic University, the Botanical Garden, and Casa Monteoru. It was not just the exterior of locations that Romania contributed to the show – in fact, Wednesday was primarily filmed in the country. Several of its impressive sets can be visited just outside Bucharest, at the Buftea Studios, the largest and most advanced studio complex in Romania and one of the most important in Central and Eastern Europe.
To visit the creepy, dark world of Wednesday, one first needs to sign up using a form, which is conveniently entirely in English. The studios organize tours only on the weekends, around midday, and each ticket costs RON 200 (EUR 41). A delicious lunch is included. Groups larger than 25 people must be scheduled by phone.
Once permitted entry on studio grounds, the group of visitors is welcomed by production designer Mihai Dorobantu, the guide. Sporting a cane and a wealth of experience in cinema, Dorobantu directs the group to Stage 12, a large set used for commercials and interiors. All during the tour, he dutifully fills in the keen listeners on the secrets of set designing and the history of the studios.
The building of the Buftea Studios started in 1951, at the order of the first communist-backed leader of Romania, Petru Groza. Finished by 1959, the studio became ground zero for the making of Romania’s communist-era movies. Privatized in 1998, Buftea Studios changed hands several times before its latest modernization and renovation, in 2019. At the moment, the area hosts 19 sets. Since 1957, more than 500 nationally and internationally acclaimed films were at least partly produced in Buftea.
The latest one, however, is perhaps the most famous. Passing through the door of Buftea’s Stage 9, the visitor is welcomed by the water basin used in Wednesday
