Those of you of a certain age will remember the hype and excitement you felt when 24 was a thing. Kiefer Sutherland was mesmerizing as US counter-terrorist agent Jack Bauer, and the hook was that each episode was one hour of the twenty-four-hour day, with the narration happening in real time.
Well, Kiefer is back on television in Paramount’s gripping new thriller Rabbit Hole, and once again, he is an agent in trouble. This time, he plays corporate spy John Weir, framed for murder.
The show was created by John Requa and Glenn Ficarra, who also wrote and direct the pilot, and it hits many beats that made 24 so thrilling. Plenty of shadowy characters with clouded motivations, lots of tense scenes featuring deadly situations, and Kiefer Sutherland trying to get to the heart of a terrible conspiracy.
With the show already garnering some excellent reviews, we thought it might be time to dig a little deeper into the show’s production. With the precision of a secret agent disabling a time bomb, we are taking a trip into where Rabbit Hole was filmed.
Where was the TV Show Rabbit Hole filmed – a breakdown of locations
Location 1 – Ontario, Canada
Rabbit Hole pretty much takes place in New York, and plenty of establishing shots set the scene, but would you believe, through the magic of filmmaking, one of the significant locations for filming was in Canada?
Ontario has long been used as a cheaper filming location, and the architecture and streets are very easily converted to look like the mean streets of New York. Filming in Canada took place between May and September 2022.
Location 2 – Toronto, Ontario
Toronto and its screen production industry are so adept at hosting film and television companies it makes the whole experience incredibly smooth and accessible. Toronto has been used as a location for New York.
Still, it also doubles well for Boston, Washington, Chicago, other US locales, and international cities such as Paris, London, Morocco, Saigon, and Tehran.
For the production of Rabbit Hole, the set for the New York police station was the Toronto Metropolitan University at 350 Victoria Street. Social media also provided some pictures from natives of the city who spotted cameras and crews filming at Adelaide and York Street.
This location included a fake entrance to a New York subway.
Location 3 – Hamilton, Ontario
This location has seen quite a bit of filmmaking action over the years. Hamilton has been featured in productions such as Gone In 6o Seconds, Four Brothers, and The Mayor of Kingstown.
The team behind Rabbit Hole used a home on Amelia Street that was used as the house for one of the characters’ mothers. An area around Gore Park at 1 Hughson Street South was also scouted for some filming, and the Royal Connaught Hotel at 118 King Street East in Hamilton is changed into a New York City hotel called Decatur West NYC.
The set was dressed to make it more like New York. Some of the tricks used in production include lining the streets with yellow New York cabs, draping the outside of buildings with American flags, and of course, in case the viewer is particularly eagle-eyed, changing the license plates on cars on the set to US ones.
Instagram is a good way to see the on-set locations, and if you head to assistant director Rick Morris‘ page, there are a few photos to check out.
I recognized the welding sign (national steel car)In Episode 4, the one by Fishkill st after she stole the magazine