If there is one thing that captivates television audiences more than a juicy high school scandal, it is a high school scandal wrapped in a deadly, edge-of-your-seat murder mystery. Peacock’s hit series One of Us Is Lying delivers exactly that. Based on the 2017 blockbuster Young Adult (YA) mystery novel by Karen M. McManus, the show brilliantly merges the angst of a coming-of-age teen drama with the dark, twisting suspense of a classic whodunit.
The premise is as iconic as The Breakfast Club, but with a lethal twist: five students walk into after-school detention, but only four make it out alive. The death of Simon, the school’s notorious gossip-monger, sets off a massive investigation. As the remaining four students—Bronwyn, Nate, Addy, and Cooper, famously dubbed the “Bayview Four”—become the prime suspects, explosive personal secrets are brought into the light.
While the story is set in the fictional, quintessential American suburban town of Bayview, California, the actual filming locations tell a vastly different, globe-trotting story. The visual backdrop of Bayview High and its surrounding neighborhoods plays a crucial role in creating the show’s claustrophobic yet visually stunning atmosphere.
So, where exactly did the cast and crew bring this captivating mystery to life? The answer might surprise you. From the rainy, cinematic streets of the Pacific Northwest to the stunning landscapes of New Zealand and the bustling studios of Ontario, here is the complete, behind-the-scenes guide to the filming locations of One of Us Is Lying.
A Production Journey Shaped by the Pandemic
Before diving into the specific locations, it is essential to understand why the production of One of Us Is Lying bounced around the globe. Like many television shows and movies produced in the early 2020s, this YA thriller was deeply impacted by the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Creating a seamless fictional town is hard enough, but doing so while navigating international lockdowns and travel bans is a monumental feat. The production of Season 1 is essentially a tale of three cities: Vancouver, Auckland, and Toronto.
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The pilot episode was originally shot in late 2019, long before the world shut down. However, when the series was officially picked up for a full season, the pandemic was in full swing. Severe complications, logistical nightmares, and strict safety protocols forced the studio to move the bulk of the production to New Zealand in 2021. Later, sudden lockdown measures in New Zealand forced yet another audible, pushing the crew to wrap the final days of the season in Canada.
Despite these massive geographical leaps, the production design team managed to maintain a perfectly consistent look, tricking American viewers into believing they were looking at a single California town the entire time. Let’s break down exactly where the magic happened.
British Columbia, Canada: Setting the Scene in “Hollywood North”
Vancouver and Burnaby
The journey of One of Us Is Lying began in the beautiful, versatile province of British Columbia, Canada. Specifically, the pilot episode—the crucial foundation that sets the visual tone, introduces the Bayview Four, and features Simon’s shocking death—was filmed in and around Vancouver.
Often referred to by industry insiders as “Hollywood North,” Vancouver is one of the most popular filming locations for American television. From Riverdale and The Flash to Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries, Vancouver is an expert at masquerading as “Anytown, USA.” The lush greenery, moody skies, and classic suburban architecture make it the perfect stand-in for the fictional town of Bayview.
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The pilot was shot over a brisk three-week period, running from November 2 to November 20, 2019. During this time, the crew utilized several real-world locations to establish the geography of the characters’ lives:
- The Boundary Road Parking Lot: Located right on the border between the cities of Vancouver and Burnaby, this expansive lot was heavily utilized by the production crew. In the world of teen dramas, parking lots are essential for those tension-filled before-and-after school scenes, secret meetups, and dramatic exits.
- Central Park, Burnaby: Not to be confused with the famous park in New York City, Burnaby’s Central Park is a massive, 90-hectare urban park featuring dense forests and winding trails. This lush environment was used for several exterior and transitional scenes, providing the mysterious, slightly isolated vibe that a good thriller desperately needs.
- Residential Neighborhoods: To capture the varying socioeconomic backgrounds of the Bayview Four—from Bronwyn’s pristine, high-achieving lifestyle to Nate’s rough-around-the-edges reality—the crew filmed on location along Blenheim Street and West 53rd Avenue. These Vancouver streets offer gorgeous, tree-lined sidewalks and classic American-style homes, easily passing for an upscale California suburb.
Because the pilot was shot nearly a year and a half before the rest of the season, it established a specific aesthetic—moody lighting, autumnal colors, and distinctive architecture—that the crew would later have to meticulously recreate halfway across the world.
Auckland, New Zealand: The Real Bayview High
Moving Down Under
When Peacock greenlit One of Us Is Lying for a full series order, the world was in the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic. Vancouver, while beloved, was facing strict regulations. To ensure the safety of the cast and crew, NBCUniversal and UCP (Universal Content Productions) made the bold decision to move the primary production of Season 1 to New Zealand.
New Zealand had successfully managed the early waves of the pandemic, allowing film and television productions to operate much more freely than in North America. Filming for the remainder of the season kicked off on May 10, 2021.
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While New Zealand is famous for its sweeping, fantastical landscapes (thanks to The Lord of the Rings), its largest city, Auckland, is incredibly versatile. Auckland boasts a unique mix of bustling metropolitan centers, quiet suburban sprawls, and stunning natural coastal areas, giving the location scouts plenty of options to recreate the American vibe established in the Vancouver pilot.
The Coincidence of Bayview
In an incredible twist of fate and geography, the production found the perfect home in a suburb located less than ten miles northwest of Auckland’s city center. The name of this suburb? Bayview.
Yes, the real-world Auckland suburb of Bayview was used extensively to represent the fictional American town of Bayview. The irony was not lost on the cast and crew. This residential area provided the essential backdrop for the characters’ daily lives, allowing the camera to capture authentic, lived-in suburban streets that perfectly matched the energy of McManus’s original novel.
- Recreating the High School: Bayview High is essentially the fifth main character of the show. It is where secrets are born, lies are spread, and the central murder takes place. The production team used local educational facilities and expertly crafted soundstages in Auckland to seamlessly match the interiors of the school shot in the Vancouver pilot.
- A Silver Lining for the Cast: While the massive delay between shooting the pilot in 2019 and the rest of the season in 2021 was frustrating, the cast noted a massive silver lining. The extended downtime gave the young actors ample time to reread Karen M. McManus’s novel, dive deep into their characters’ psychology, and build a genuine off-screen bond. By the time they arrived in Auckland, their chemistry was palpable, elevating the drama to new heights.
Toronto, Ontario: The Final Scramble
A Sudden Lockdown
Just as the cast and crew were nearing the finish line of Season 1 in late summer 2021, unpredictable real-world events struck again. New Zealand experienced a sudden and strict nationwide lockdown due to a new COVID-19 outbreak. With only a few days of filming left to complete the crucial, climactic scenes of the season finale, production was forced to halt immediately.
With the release schedule looming, the studio could not afford to wait out a lockdown of unknown duration. In a massive logistical scramble, the core cast and essential crew packed their bags and flew back across the globe to Canada—this time landing on the East Coast in Toronto, Ontario.
The Magic of Set Design
Toronto, much like Vancouver, is a powerhouse in the film and television industry. The final leg of production for Season 1 took place entirely indoors on highly controlled soundstages in the Greater Toronto Area.
This is where the true unsung heroes of television—the production designers and set decorators—shined. Because they were shooting the finale, the scenes had to perfectly match the school hallways, bedrooms, and police station interiors that had already been established in New Zealand and Vancouver.
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Through meticulous attention to detail, clever lighting, and brilliant set construction, the Toronto crew recreated the New Zealand sets down to the smallest detail. When watching the final episodes of Season 1, the transition is entirely invisible to the naked eye. Viewers are completely unaware that an actor might walk out of a door filmed in Auckland and walk into a room filmed in Toronto.
Principal photography for the chaotic, globetrotting first season finally wrapped at the end of September 2021.
Why the Setting of ‘One of Us Is Lying’ Matters
For fans of YA thrillers like Pretty Little Liars, Gossip Girl, or Cruel Summer, the setting is everything. The fictional town of Bayview represents the illusion of suburban perfection. It is a place where manicured lawns and prestigious high schools hide deep, dark secrets.
By utilizing three drastically different geographical locations—Vancouver’s moody urban borders, Auckland’s picturesque suburbs, and Toronto’s high-tech studio spaces—the creators of One of Us Is Lying managed to build a universal, highly relatable world.
The seamless blending of these locations ensures that the audience’s focus remains exactly where it belongs: on the tangled web of lies, the gripping murder mystery, and the complex emotional journeys of Bronwyn, Nate, Addy, and Cooper.
The next time you stream an episode of One of Us Is Lying, take a closer look at the background. When Nate is riding his motorcycle down a quiet street, or when the Bayview Four are huddled together in the school courtyard, remember the incredible international journey it took to capture that single moment.
From the rainy forests of British Columbia to the sunny suburbs of New Zealand and the bustling studios of Toronto, the making of this hit series was almost as wild and unpredictable as the show’s actual plot.
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