Where Is the Superhero Show Shot?

The big picture

• the boys
  is filmed in Toronto, Canada, which offers a wide range of filming locations, from famous landmarks to city streets.
• Vought Tower, home of The Seven, is filmed at Toronto's Roy Thomson Hall, known for its history in the superhero genre and film festivals.
• Season 4 of
  the boys
  continued to shoot in Toronto, using various historical and urban locations in the city.

Throughout his career, the boys has been inundated with American iconography, which makes it rather ironic that the series was created across the border. Almost every location in the series, from the visually spectacular to the quietest, is shot in Toronto, Canada. While not as massive as the on-screen version of New York City, it's still the perfect metropolis for Vought's world and has a wide variety of locations for the show. Some places are famous and others even appear in the series as themselves; the show is also not afraid to take advantage of the darker parts of the city, even for the few scenes set in other countries. With so much variety, it's easy to see why the boys has adopted Toronto as its unofficial home for filming.

Aside from “The Boys”, the Vought Tower has its own secret identity

When Hughie (Jack Quaid) has his first glimpse of the Vought Tower where the Seven reside, is as amazed as we are by its scale and importance, and the reality is just as intimidating. That's because Roy Thomson Hall is not only one of Toronto's landmarks, but the main venue for the film festival held there every year. Primarily used for wide exterior shots, the tower has already seen its share of the superhero genre, with the interior of the building featured in the original. X Men movie in 2000. The building is also more than familiar with being home to an evil corporate base, having done so in various shows such as The Soca i The Extensionthe latter being another highly successful Amazon property.

This does not mean that the entire tower has always been home to the Seven. While the interior of the building was shown during the series premiere when Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) sends Hughie to infiltrate the building, the conference room is filmed elsewhere. These days, the appearance of the tower is mostly relegated to outside shots, complete with a CGI overlay. While perhaps not the most prominent landmark (at least not on the inside), the sets created for the interior also reproduce the architect's famous and distinctive transom design, Arthur Erickson, showing the intention to honor the building without always using it. Perhaps it's fitting that the series' most iconic location is also one of the most famous destinations in the city where much of the series is filmed. Apart from film festivals and tributes, the tower is also open to the public for visits.

Toronto has many faces in 'The Boys'

Although the boys take advantage of Toronto's greatest sites, they also settle for many of the quieter areas of the city. When the deep (Chase Crawford) is involved with the Church of the Collective in season 2, its headquarters being filmed in the Scottish Rite. Based in Hamilton, the church is no stranger to being the basis of exotic cults at the cinema, with shows like Hannibal i The Handmaid's Tale both filming there, along with Crimson Peak. Another more modest location is the Fallsview Residence, where Grace Mallory (Laila Robins) resides alone in seclusion and retirement.

For the more urban environment, the boys replicates much of the New York City landscape throughout Toronto. Times Square, which Butcher first presented in a broad plan during the pilot, has been recreated in Yonge-Dundas Square. The series too uses rural locations to great effectwith the Southwest Center for Forensic Mental Health Care replacing Sage Grove Psychiatric Hospital, where Lamplighter (Shawn Ashmore) and Stormfront (Oh Cash) supervise mentally ill superheroes in experimentation. Not all locations have been welcoming on the show, however, as during production one scene involved a bloody massacre, possibly the scene when Homelander (Anthony Starr) is pictured killing peaceful protesters: It was filmed near Mel Lastman Square in downtown Toronto. Just a few years earlier, the area had been the site of a deadly car bombing, which has remained a strong memory in the community. Although the boys had been given permission to film there, the producers later moved the scene to another location out of respect due to the local outcry.

Some of the locations a the boys they are based more on real life than others. For example, the numerous political rallies organized by Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) of season 2 are filmed in David Pecaut Square, right next to Roy Thomson Hall replacing the Vought Tower. Conversely, when he sends heads to Congress, the room isn't even a real location, but a courtroom used by dresses a few years earlier. Even a few locations appear on the screen as themselveslike when Starlight (Erin Moriarty) recruits his former childhood friend through blackmail at the real George Street Diner. For introductions, like when Homelander praises Translucent (Alex Hassell) in the season premiere, large downtown soundstages are used for dramatic effect.

'The Boys' have kept the Toronto tradition alive

Although the COVID restrictions caused a delay in production, the boys he stayed in Toronto for season 3 and has since continued through season four. Some locations, such as Voughtland, were technically filmed outside the city limits, but well within Ontario. Most locations, however, they were still firmly in the city, even those destined to be foreigners by nature. The decommissioned Soviet base where Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) remains in stasis is actually the Ontario Court of Justice, located just outside Brantford City Hall. The show hasn't been afraid to use more historical locations for particular scenes, like the isolated house where Ryan (Cameron Crovetti) serves as a museum, replicating what these houses looked like in the 1800s.

As it has yet to air, the locations for season 4 are not yet publicly known, but as far as we know, however, the series returned to Toronto to film, continuing his long residency in Canada from the start, exploring both familiar and unfamiliar locations for the series. Given the political nature of this new season, it's perhaps no surprise to learn that the old David Pecaut Square gatherings are back, as is the Vought Tower itself, and it looks like there are new locations as well. With another season confirmed to be underway, it can be assumed that Toronto will have its hands full for many years to come. the boys.

the boys is available to stream on Prime Video in the US.

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