'Stranger Things' Totally Transformed a Mall in Georgia to Film Season 3
Stranger Things 3 dropped on Netflix on July 4.
The hit sci-fi series, which stars actors Winona Ryder, Millie Bobby Brown, and Noah Schnapp, takes place in a town called Hawkins, Indiana.
Fans are wondering: Is Stranger Things' Hawkins, Indiana a real place?
If you're a Stranger Things fan who has long been awaiting the arrival of season 3, chances are you watched every. last. one. of season 2's episodes in record time - leaving a Stranger Things-shaped hole in your heart once again. If you were planning on helping the hurt by visiting Mike, Eleven, Dustin, Lucas, and Will's neighborhood to see all your favorite series spots in real life, we've got some bad news for you: Hawkins, Indiana from Stranger Things doesn't actually exist.
Yep, that's a major bummer. But it also begs the question ...
Where is Stranger Things filmed?
Well, much like some Netflix's other well-known TV projects (think: Ozark and Insatiable), the majority of Stranger Things is actually filmed in Georgia, far away from the hustle and bustle of Hollywood studios (although yes, some of the show's scenes have been shot in California). More specifically, the hit sci-fi series is largely shot in different cities and towns surrounding the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia.
According to Architectural Digest, the Atlanta area is home to many of the Hawkins locations we've come to know and love. Take the Hawkins National Laboratory, for example, which is actually a former psychiatric hospital (and now part of Emory University's Briarcliff Campus):
And Hawkins Middle School, where so much of the show's three seasons have taken place? That's the former Patrick Henry High School in Stockbridge, which closed back in 2015:
No one could forget this iconic Stranger Things season 1 scene, which was filmed at Atlanta's Bellwood Quarry:
And there's also Jackson, Georgia, whose downtown streets are done up with '80s facades to set the scene for downtown Hawkins:
For Stranger Things 3, specifically, which hit Netflix on July 4, locals also witnessed the Gwinnett Place Mall transform. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported the mall's modern stores were completely made over with '80s-style signage for some of the third season's most pivotal scenes:
Of course, some of Stranger Things is shot on TV sets. While different houses in Georgia are used for exterior shots of the characters' homes, the interior home scenes are shot on sound stages at Screen Gem Studios, a production facility also located in Atlanta.
Interestingly, though, Stranger Things wasn't originally supposed to take place in Hawkins, Indiana at all: Before the sci-fi series became the hit Netflix show we all know and love today, Thrillist reports that it was sold as a series called Montauk - appropriately titled because, yes, it was supposed to be set in the beach town of Montauk, New York.
Back in 2016, show creators Matt and Ross Duffer told Vulture they ultimately changed the setting because of "production reasons," but they're happy with how the show ended up turning out (and, of course, so are we).
"[The show] was set in Montauk. We always loved that idea of the Amity feel in Jaws, in a coastal town," Ross said. "We ended up falling in love with this idea that it's more Anywhere, USA." (Or rather ... Hawkins, Indiana.)
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