Marvel’s WandaVision has sparked a frenzy of speculation with each new episode. After the first three teased fans with traditional sitcoms from the 1950s through the 1970s, episode four finally offered up a look at what was going on just outside Westview, New Jersey. The next two episodes have returned viewers to the sitcom adventures of Wanda, Vision and the twins. And with each new episode, new questions have arisen.
Also new in recent episodes has been the appearance of some new and very different locations. Granted, there have been glimpses of the outside, even in the very first episode. That idyllic black and white world was accessed via a section of road and approach into town that appeared far more realistic than Wanda and Vision’s cozy backlot bungalow. And, of course, the episode ended with a tantalizing camera move and change in aspect ratio that revealed that we were not the only ones enjoying the show.
Episode three offered the most dramatic break from Wanda’s suburban bliss. Geraldine/Monica’s shocking reappearance found her hurtling through the mysterious barrier enveloping Westview. She and the viewers were then treated to their first look at the S.W.O.R.D. base camp.
Which brings us to episodes four through six, and the focus of this article. Once again, I will not presume to answer questions about exactly what is going on (although I can tell you all about that beekeeper). What I will be focused on here are the new locations we have seen in WandaVision, specifically those in “the real world.” Alas, I will not be able to tell you exactly where Westview and that base camp were located. I have my suspicions, but prefer not to guess in print. But I can positively identify some of the locations that have been featured in recent episodes.
First up is the hospital in which Monica Rambeau made her dramatic appearance. Or reappearance, within the reality of the MCU. Set on the day the Avengers restored the Infinity Stones and “snapped back” everyone who had been lost, the ward erupts in chaos as Monica frantically tries to find her mother.
Based on published accounts and social media, these scenes were shot at the Southern Regional Medical Center in Riverdale, Georgia, just outside Atlanta. The eerie tidiness of the rooms, corridors and nurse’s station strongly suggest that the film company shot in a ward that was not in use. Fortunately, shooting there was wrapped up well before the COVID-19 pandemic. It is unlikely that any film company would be able to take over an entire ward these days.
We next catch up to Monica three weeks later, at the S.W.O.R.D. headquarters. The expansive aerial view of the campus is almost certainly entirely digital, although it is based strongly on a NASA Kennedy Space Center launch complex. The large hangar in the center has a low, shed-like structure attached to the side, which we are given to assume is the entrance to the main building.
This portion of the building does have a real world counterpart. It is the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. This is a conference and convention facility that is readily available for rentals.
Although these photos were taken from opposite ends of the facility, it is clear this is the location. The stark architecture, distinctive windows, and even the circular desk at the center are the same. By adding a few practical props and performing some digital wizardry, it became the entrance to S.W.O.R.D.
The other major locations seen in episode four of WandaVision were interiors that were undoubtably shot on soundstages. The only exceptions were the roads and highways leading to Westview, as well as the base camp and entrance to Westview itself. While secrecy was strictly enforced for this production, it was revealed that the base camp was set up in a muddy field, likely close to the former Pinewood Studios just outside Atlanta.
While this post concerns itself mostly with WandaVision ON location, there have been a few new backlot views since episode three. One of the most intriguing was a grainy aerial view seen in episode five. As we see real-time footage from the “vintage” drone, you can barely make out Sparky running down the front walk, with the twins just behind.
This footage looked familiar, and a spot check of one of the trailers revealed this matching footage, clear and in full color. You can see Sparky on the front walk, as well as one of the twins just coming down the steps. Significantly, we also wee the other house next door, the one to the left that has not been acknowledged in any episodes of WandaVision. Everyone, it seems has lived next door to the right (Agnes in episode one, Dottie in episode two, and Herb in episode three).
In fact, when episode three moved everything on to soundstages (as a visual reference to The Brady Bunch’s artificial suburban home), the house to the left didn’t even get a cameo appearance on the painted backdrop seen behind Vision. The house on the right, on the other hand, was there in all its forced perspective glory.
Apparently there has also been some speculation on the location of the home of Wanda’s doctor, briefly seen in episode three. Every clue indicates that this was also built entirely on a soundstage, from the sketchy trees on the backdrop, to the painted concrete, and the highly artificial boxwood shrubs.
Episodes five took us a little further down the street (to the right, of course). As Wanda and the twins searched for Sparky, we were offered two close-up looks at the former home of the Hecks from ABC TV’s The Middle. It has been lightly redressed, but otherwise looks very much as it did all those years in “Orson.”
We also got an almost full frontal shot of the Bewitched house at the end of the street. And to no one’s surprise, it turns out that this is where Agnes lives. And keeps azalea bushes, which (as everyone knows) can be fatal to small dogs.
Episode six, seemingly set in the early 90s saw Wanda’s dream home in yet another guise. This slightly scruffier version is a nod to shows such as Malcolm in the Middle and Roseanne.
Westview’s Town Square Scare was staged in the same location we saw for the variety show in episode two and the opening montage in episode three. One new building that is prominently featured is the Coronet theater. As a nod to the 90s it is not showing a double feature, but rather has been “twinned,” with The Incredibles in Cinema 1 and The Parent Trap in Cinema 2. Moviegoers in Westview can choose between a movie about a family with amazing superpowers, or a couple of twins who conspire to get their parents together.
This is the theater without set dressings in the business district at Disney’s Golden Oak Ranch. It was seen, fleetingly, behind Wanda and Vision as they biked through the opening of episode three. It is also just around the corner from Vision’s office. (You can see it in the background of the photo with the marquee.)
Wanda and Pietro chaperone the boys as they trick-or-treat in another area we have not seen before. This is the residential street of the Golden Oak Ranch. The street is a fairly tight curve, ending in a cul-de-sac. Each house is built in a distinctive architectural style. They are fairly easy to identify on screen. The first house we see is the Cape Cod.
Here it is, before the production designers removed the fence and added all the Halloween finery.
Here is another angle of the same house.
The view to the end of the street prominently features the New England Farmhouse. The Federal Colonial next door, however, is pretty much obscured by trees. Note the street lamps— they will show up in other locations.
A last residence that figures prominently in this sequence is the Fieldstone House. Although the shutters have been painted white and Halloween decorations have been added, it is pretty easy to spot.
Locating Vision’s Halloween location, on the other hand, required a bit of sleuthing. Representing the outskirts of Westview, these suburban homes are some 2,000 miles away in a small town south of Atlanta.
Rolling Hill Drive is the name of the real street, a tidy, winding cul-de-sac just outside Williamson.
An obvious visual clue that this is the same street are the two prominent trees near the end of this shot and on the left.
The home of the “trapped family’ is a bit harder to see, as the trees are bare for the Halloween episode. A side view shows the double gable and fan light window more clearly.
As night falls, Vision makes his way past two brightly lit homes. The one in the background is located on a distinctive cul-de-sac.
This is Highpoint Court, a short stretch of road with three driveways and three houses at the end. Note also all the sputtering streetlights, courtesy of the production company. They match the streetlights back at the Golden Oak Ranch.
The reverse shot looking back to Rolling Hill Drive includes a distinctive roof line across the street, a street sign that was not added by the production company, and a streetlight that was.
After Vision decides to survey things from the air, we are briefly treated to a very distinctive view of the cul-de-sac and its three driveways. We had seen something similar in the episode, but in digital form.
Here is that same location, seen in the tracking program at the S.W.O.R.D. base camp.
This is how the real location looks in Google Earth.
Sharp eyed (if not to say obsessive) viewers may have seen this similar shot in black and white, briefly glimpsed in a trailer for Wanda Vision.
While hovering over Rolling Hill Drive, Vision spots a stalled car at the end of the road. By daylight it looks a bit different, but it is possible to identify a driveway entering from one side, and a section of white fence on the other.
As Vision glides down to investigate, we are treated to a view that includes a street sign, that section of fence, and a house with narrow white columns. The driver of the car is neighbor Agnes, lost and confused at the edge of town.
As Agnes turns to drive away, we see she has pulled onto Ellis Road, a boundary Wanda has set for the twins, and presumably everyone else in town.
By daylight, and at a slightly different angle, the section of road appears much more prosaic. And while Rolling Hill is the name of the street, the boundary beyond is actually Williamson Zebulon Road. As for the field beyond… it’s not that field. I looked it up.
