Netflix’s Wednesday: Tourism Ireland confirms €200,000 screen tourism campaign
At a Glance
- Around €200,000 spent promoting Wednesday Season 2 filming in Ireland
- Campaign ran across the UK, US, Germany and France
- Two behind-the-scenes videos released with Screen Ireland and Netflix
- Campaign reached 30 million viewers, with 7.4 million full views
- Season 2 filmed across Wicklow, Dublin and Offaly, doubling for Vermont
Tourism Ireland has confirmed a €200,000 marketing campaign to promote Wednesday Season 2’s Irish filming locations around the new season launch in August and September. About €5,700 of the budget was spent on video production and translation, with €192,000 allocated to digital and video advertising across Great Britain, the United States, Germany and France – the agency’s four key tourism markets. The campaign, which used behind-the-scenes interviews with the cast on filming in Ireland, has to date achieved an overall reach of 30 million people, with 7.4 million viewers watching one of the two videos in full.
The marketing spend around the two release waves of the new Netflix series shows how Tourism Ireland are seizing a golden opportunity to promote visits to the country among fans of Wednesday, with screen tourism clearly at the heart of their marketing plans. The agency will have noted the uplift in fans travelling to locations for Season 1, which was filmed in Romania. Expedia, for example, reported a 55% increase in searches for Bucharest hotels around the show’s release.
The two short behind-the-scenes films, created with Screen Ireland and Netflix, combine cast and crew interviews on set, with sweeping footage of Irish landscapes and locations used. Joanna Lumley, who plays Hester Frump, said the show’s “slightly surreal, unreal quality sits very well on Irish shoulders.” Director Tim Burton described “the combination of sets and locations, give it that off-kilter vibe,” while Luis Guzmán, who plays Gomez added: “The landscape here is sensational, so beautiful, so nostalgic.” Joy Sunday who plays Bianca Barclay added, “It’s very cool to share space with a lot of really iconic shows of the past.”
Set in Vermont, Wednesday Season 1 was filmed in Romania, but the production moved to Ireland for Season 2 to capture a similar gothic tone with greater visual range that the island offers. Netflix’s official TUDUM site details how production designer Mark Scruton and producer Karen Richards spent weeks touring Irish forests, castles and estates to find settings that could stand in, including for Nevermore Academy. Executive Producer Miles Millar said Ireland’s “magical light” gave the season a unique look that “translates beautifully to screen.”
Filming took place between May and December 2024 at Ashford Studios and on location in County Wicklow, Dublin and Offaly including Powerscourt Demesne, Charleville Castle, Trinity College Dublin and Deansgrange Cemetery, all standing in for the show’s fictional Vermont setting. Variety reported that the series is among the largest international TV productions ever filmed in Ireland.
With all eight episodes now live (Part 1 was released 6 August and Part 2 on 3 September 2025), Wednesday Season 2 has entered Netflix’s Top 10 most-watched English-language series with 94.5 million views, confirming an international platform for Ireland’s filming locations.
According to The Irish Times, Irish services company Metropolitan Films International, which handled local production for Wednesday Season 2, recorded €29.6 million in Irish production spend supported through Ireland’s Section 481 tax credit.
Tourism Ireland and Fáilte Ireland, the National Tourism Development Authority for Ireland, also invited a group of influential European journalists in August to explore some of the show’s filming locations featured in the series ahead of the premiere of season two.
