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’s famous piranha and boat race scenes. Now emptied, the deep basin can be rented for shoots, the guide says, for a measly EUR 80,000 per day.

Next on the route is an interior of an airplane used for shoots. Right next to it is a veritable museum of cinema, holding stage equipment and miniature sets used in Romania’s famous communist-era historical movies. Another very large room, with its walls covered in radiators, hosted every indoor scene on the show, including Wednesday and Enid’s famous room. The actual sets, however, are no longer there, because they are under trademark.

It is the next stop, however, that steals the show. An unimpressive collection of wooden panels from the outside, the famous Nevermore academy opens up once you step within its bounds, its gothic grey columns and walls surrounding the visitor. Instantly recognizable as the hangout of Wednesday and her band of misfits, Nevermore is not far from the sheriff’s house, also present on the show.

Upping Nevermore is difficult, but the so-called Boston (or, for the Wednesday aficionado, Pilgrim) set manages to do just that. Used for multiple productions, including several shots of Django Unchained, the old wild west-type town is so well-made and credible that one expects gun-wielding outlaws to rush out of one of the saloons at any moment. Walking the streets of the town, one feels transported back in time.

The entire town of Jericho, Vermont, from the restaurant where Tyler works to the recognizable white church, can also be found on the grounds of the studios. The statues that can be seen on the show, however, are not there, as they are also protected by trademark.

The visit ends at the Buftea Studios’ own beautifully decorated Onset Restaurant, where one can freely imagine Jenna Ortega dining between shoots.

Once outside the aging, but impressive arch guarding the entrance to the studios, the visitor is thrust back into reality after having briefly and magically left it for a while, just outside Bucharest.

How to get there: Getting to the studios can be done in several ways. The most direct one is by car or via ride-sharing apps like Bolt or Uber, which can take you there from downtown Bucharest in roughly 40 minutes for around RON 50 (EUR 10). Public transportation is also available. The shortest route takes approximately one hour and 10 minutes and starts from Gara de Nord, Bucharest’s main train station, where the traveler can hop on the airport-bound train and get off at Parc Mogosoaia. After a short walk to the bus station, one then has to board the 436 bus from the Parc Industrial station to reach the town of Buftea some 20 minutes later. Once off the bus, another 5 minutes of walking gets you to the studios.

radu@romania-insider.com

Photos by Radu Dumitrescu