Here’s Where Netflix’s Unchosen Was Filmed
If you thought the scenes were a little bit eerie, the location certainly helped
If you’re on the lookout for a new series to binge watch, we’d highly recommend Unchosen.
The newest thriller to land on Netflix, Unchosen is fast becoming a must watch for fans of all things creepy. Starring Molly Windsor, Asa Butterfield and Fra Fee, the show follows married couple Rosie (Windsor) and Adam (Butterfield), members of a conservative religious cult named Fellowship of the Divine. Living in the British countryside, their world is turned upside down when outsider Sam (Fee) unexpectedly shows up on the scene.
And as it rocketed up to securing the number one spot on Netflix’s watch list, viewers found themselves asking a few questions. Namely, where was the show actually filmed…
Where was Unchosen filmed?
From Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials to The Thursday Murder Club, the UK hosts some incredible filming locations for several of our favourite TV shows and films – with Unchosen choosing Britain as it’s base. Given the eerie cult and the haunting lives of those living in the Fellowship, finding the right backdrop for the show was key. Director Jim Loach (Save Me, Shameless) told Country & Town House that the biggest challenge for filming was picking a location with ‘a really cinematic scale’ that still felt ‘a little unsettling.’
Surrey, England
Surrounded by forests and rivers, the sprawling landscapes of our cult’s base was actually filmed in Surrey, South East England. The outdoors played a huge role in the Netflix series, with Surrey’s expansive fields and towering woodlands capturing the ‘cinematic scale’ that Loach was after for his Fellowship.
Telling Country & Town House that the exterior scenes were filmed there, Loach explained that they favoured filming ‘when the light was low, the shadows long, so you always feel like someone could be listening in, or watching them, unseen in the corner of the frame.’ He added, ‘I wanted to feel the weather, see the sky – I felt the show should have a timeless look and kind of ‘primal’ feel to it.’
Alongside Surrey’s rural landscapes, the show was also filmed at Surrey’s Shepperton Studios. The world-renowned film studio is the second large in the world, with Bridgerton season four and the recent Peaky Blinders film having been shot there.
London, England
Alongside filming in Surrey, some of the show was shot in London, with one real-life location helping to bring the creepy vibes. Loach previously revealed to The Independent that they shot the Fellowship’s meeting hall scenes in a ‘place that an organisation had left at some point in the past.’
Now, Loach and the Unchosen team haven’t revealed exactly where this was – but plenty of viewers on Reddit are suggesting it may have been filmed at the former Plymouth Brethren Christian Church in Harrow, London.
The series takes clear inspiration from the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, a conservative religious group that has long been the subject of debate. The building in question was in use by the church from the late 1990s until 2017, functioning as a place of worship tied to the same kind of strict belief system that Unchosen draws from.
Comparing photos of the scenes in the Netflix series to photographs of the church online, it’s certainly pretty similar. Not only this, but the fictional Fellowship Hall and the real Plymouth Brethren Christian Church have the same layout, doorway, and other features. Reddit threads also included a photograph of a flyer, which offers the site up for ‘short-term film-related work.’
Users also noted that the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church was very much on the radar for Unchosen. In an April interview with Elle, Asa Butterfield shared that he studied documentaries of the 200-year-old Plymouth Brethren Christian Church is preparation for Unchosen.
Of course, this hasn’t been officially confirmed by Leach or production – but when it comes to filming locations, it’s definitely a possibility…
