Where was Stranger Things filmed?

Stranger Things was mainly filmed in and around Atlanta, Georgia. The fourth season took place in Lenora Hills, California, New Mexico, and the scenes of Russia were shot in Lithuania.

What is Stranger Things about?

Stranger Things is an American web series exclusive to Netflix. The show is set in the fictional rural town of Hawkins, Indiana, during the 1980s. The nearby Hawkins National Laboratory ostensibly performs scientific research for the United States Department of Energy, but secretly does experiments of the paranormal and supernatural nature, including those that involve human test subjects. They create a portal to an alternate dimension, “the Upside Down” and the influence of the Upside Down starts to affect the unknowing residents of Hawkins in mysterious ways. Stranger Things currently has 4 seasons, and the fifth season will be released around mid-2025.

The first season's storyline began in November 1983. Will Byers is abducted by a creature from the Upside Down. His mother Joyce, the town's police chief Jim Hopper, and a group of volunteers search for him. A young psychokinetic girl named Eleven escapes from the laboratory and is found by friends of Will. Eleven befriends and assists them in their efforts to find Will.

The second season is set a year later in October 1984. Will was rescued, but he begins having premonitions of the fall of Hawkins caused by a creature in the Upside Down. It is discovered that Will is still being possessed by an entity from the Upside Down which resulted in his friends and family learning that there is a larger threat to their universe.

The third season is set months after, in the days leading up to the Fourth of July celebration in 1985. The new Starcourt Mall has become the center of attention for Hawkins residents, putting the majority of other local stores out of business. Hopper becomes increasingly concerned about Eleven and Mike's relationship and becomes very protective of his daughter. A secret Soviet laboratory under Starcourt seeks to open the gateway to the Upside Down. Meanwhile, the Mind Flayer uses mind control on Billy.

The fourth season is set months later, in March 1986. Joyce, Will, Eleven, and Jonathan have moved to Lenora, California for a fresh start. In California, Eleven struggles with the loss of her powers and being bullied in school. Meanwhile, in Hawkins, a being from the Upside Down, called Vecna, begins killing the residents of Hawkins, opening new gates between the two worlds in the process. Planning to stop Vecna, Dr. Sam Owens and Dr. Martin Brenner take Eleven to a facility to help her regain her powers. Meanwhile, Joyce and Murray fly to Russia to rescue Hopper from the Gulag in Kamchatka.

The fifth and final season of Stranger Things takes place in the late 1980s. The main narrative of Stranger Things 5 is that Vecna's four gates have opened, bringing the end of the world to Hawkins and causing the city's color to drain and some areas to be replaced with a volcanic hellscape. In an interview with Collider, the Duffer Brothers disclosed that Will will be highlighted in order to explore the reasons behind Vecna's choice of him in season 1 as well as the connection between him and Vecna.

According to David Harbour, the fifth season of Stranger Things will begin filming in June 2023. The fifth and final season's filming has been delayed due to the Writers Guild of America strike in 2023, according to The Duffer Brothers on Twitter.

Popular Locations In Stranger Things

Stranger Things has a mix of 80s references from The Goonies to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Alien, and Twin Peaks. Although the show is equipped with mysteries, adventures, sci-fi, and romance, enveloped by an outstanding soundtrack with a retro sound of classic synths, the key features of the show are its wonderful locations, set in the '80s. Hawkins is a quaint town situated 80 miles outside of Indianapolis in the series.

Hawkins National Laboratory

It all started at the Hawkins National Laboratory, where military experimental research was taking place. The exterior of the lab was shot in a building on Emory University's Briarcliff campus in Atlanta. It’s even creepier when you understand that it's a former psychiatric hospital.

The Hawkins Library

The Hawkins Library is the Butts County Probate Courtfound at the center of Jackson, GA, the town where most of the scenes of downtown Hawkins take place.

Melvald's General Store

Melvald's General Store, where Joyce, played by Winona Ryder worked, is located on a corner of this central square in Jackson.

The Hawk Movie Theater

At the other end of this block of buildings, the scene where Nancy runs to the cinema was filmed. The Hawk movie theater is situated at 2 Oak Street.

Nancy Wheeler’s House

The exterior of the house of Mike and Nancy Wheeler, played by Finn Wolfhard and Natalia Dyer, is located at 2530 Piney Wood Lane in East Point. The Wheelers and Byers' family homes, and also the interior of the lab, were created on a set in the Screen Gem Studios in Atlanta.

Lonnie Byers's House

Lonnie Byers's House from Chapter Two, “The Weirdo on Maple Street”, was filmed at 930 Garibaldi Street SW in Atlanta.

Steve Harrington’s house

Steve Harrington’s house, where the events of the swimming-pool party take place in season one, is situated at 8253 Carlton Road in Riverdale.

Dustin Henderson’s House

Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo)'s house is at 2886 Piney Wood Drive in East Point, right around the corner from where the Wheeler and Sinclair houses are located.

Lucas Sinclair's house

Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin)'s house can be found at 2550 Piney Wood Lane, also in East Point.

Hawkins Middle School and High School

Both the exterior and interior of Hawkins Middle School and Hawkins High School were shot in a closed-down school in Stockbridge.

Hawkins Police Station

The Hawkins Police Station was shot in a building at Courthouse Square West in Douglasville.

The Forest

Much of the show takes place in the woods. Many scenes were shot in the scenic Stone Mountain Park in Atlanta, where the kids walk through the tracks, and at Georgia International Horse Park in Conyers.

Fair Mart

The Fair Mart from episode seven, “The Bathtub”, is located at 7703 US-78 in Winston.

Benny's Burgers

Benny's Burgers is the fast food restaurant shown in a scene with Eleven, played by Millie Bobby Brown. All the shots related to these sequences, including the Tigers' lair in Season 4, were recorded on location at Tiffany's Kitchen, 7413 Lee Road in Lithia Springs.

Hopper's Cabin

Hopper's Cabin in the woods and Merrill’s pumpkin patch are located at the Sleepy Hollow Farm near Powder Springs, but according to sources, in season one, the cabin was located on private property off Daniel Road across from the Ben Hill concrete plant, west of Greenbriar Mall in Atlanta.

Starcourt Mall

The Starcourt Mall is another popular location in Stranger Things Season 3, with several scenes taking place in it. The location scout team found a half-abandoned complex with many storefronts vacant called Gwinnett Place Mall in Duluth, north of Atlanta. A mall wing was completely transformed to recreate the colorful retro-eighties where Scoops Ahoy and the cinema are located. This mall is used from time to time in the cinema industry: it was also one of the Holidate movie’s filming locations.

Hawkins Community Swimming Pool

The Hawkins Community Swimming Pool was filmed very close to the studios in South Bend Pool at 2000 Lakewood Avenue SE in Atlanta.

The Hawkins Post

The exterior of The Hawkins Post, where Nancy and Jonathan worked, was not filmed in Jackson but in a vacant building at 6981 Main Street in Lithonia

Mayor Kline's Funfair

Mayor Kline's Funfair rides from the sixth episode, “E Pluribus Unum”, were provided by the family-owned company Forever Young Amusements based in Conley. The traveling carnival was set at Fair Burn in the Georgia Renaissance Festival grounds.

Byers New Home

In the fourth season, the Byers move into a house at 4819 Lonzo Way in the fictional California town of Lenora Hills. This house is located at 13212 Montgomery Boulevard NE in Glenwood Hills, Albuquerque.

Lenora Hills High School

The Lenora Hills High School was filmed at Eldorado High School in Albuquerque. For the 4th season, several interior scenes were recorded at the studios that Netflix bought in Albuquerque, the former ABQ Studios.

The Rink-O-Mania

The Rink-o-Mania scenes were filmed at the Skate-O-Mania, a roller-skating rink located at 400 Paisano Street NE, also in Albuquerque.

Russia

The scenes in Russia were filmed in Lithuania, one of the three Baltic republics in Europe. The prison in Kamchatka is the old Lukiškės Prison in Vilnius.

Pennhurst Mental Hospital

The Pennhurst Mental Hospital from episode four “Dear Billy” is the Berry College in Mount Berry near Rome, situated about 70 miles northwest of Atlanta.

Victor Creel's haunted mansion

Victor Creel's haunted mansion is the Claremont House at 906 E 2nd Avenue in Rome. Built-in 1882, this magnificent six-bedroom Gothic Revival manor is one of Rome’s most prominent historic homes. The film crew transformed the exterior of the private property to make it look abandoned for the shoot.

The War Zone store

The War Zone store in Hawkins from chapter eight, “Papa”, was filmed at the old location of the Hodge Army-Navy military surplus store in Marietta at 507 Cobb Parkway, now occupied by a Home Center Outlet.

The Whiting Brothers Gas Station

The Whiting Brothers Gas Station is a restored service station on Route 66 in Moriarty, New Mexico.