Where does Frankenstein take place? Setting of the Netflix series explored

Frankenstein is a film in the Gothic science fiction genre. It's written and directed by Guillermo del Toro and was released on Netflix on November 7, 2025. It had its world premiere at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival and was released in limited screens on October 17 in the United States. Here's the official synopsis as per IMDb:

Dr. Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant but egotistical scientist, brings a creature to life in a monstrous experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation.

Let us explore where the film's story takes place.

Where does Frankenstein take place?

The film's story takes place in several locations across Europe. The storyline begins in the North Pole, where Baron Victor (played by Oscar Isaac) is looking for the monster in the iceberg. This happens when a ship belonging to the Royal Danish Navy gets stuck in ice. These details have been taken from Mary Shelley's novel, and a large part of the story centres around different places in Europe.

Victor was born in Italy and spent his childhood in Geneva, Switzerland. For his studies at the university, he had to go to Ingolstadt, which is a city in Germany. This is the location where the Frankenstein monster is created. After that, Victor goes back to Switzerland, and the beast also eventually follows him.

The rest of the story showcases Victor travelling to different places, including London, Scotland, Holland, Russia, and Paris. The monster also follows him in all these places. In Scotland, Victor ends up creating another monster. The novel also mentions Victor going to the namesake castle. The story concludes at the Arctic Circle, where Victor meets the monster.

The film is produced by Guillermo del Toro, Scott Stuber, and J. Miles Dale under their banners of Double Dare You, Demilo Films and Bluegrass 7. Its cast members are,

Oscar Isaac as Baron Victor Frankenstein
Sofia Galasso as Anna-Maria
Ralph Ineson as Professor Krempe
Lauren Collins as Alma
Jacob Elordi as the Creature
Mia Goth as Lady Elizabeth Harlander
Kyle Gatehouse as Young Hunter
Felix Kammerer as William Frankenstein
David Bradley as the Blind Man
Lars Mikkelsen as Captain Anderson
Charles Dance as Baron Leopold Frankenstein
Christoph Waltz as Henrich Harlander

Speaking to Netflix, del Toro spoke about adapting the classic novel. He said:

“I’ve lived with Mary Shelley’s creation all my life. For me, it’s the Bible. But I wanted to make it my own, to sing it back in a different key with a different emotion.”

He added,

“Mary Shelley’s masterpiece is rife with questions that burn brightly in my soul: existential, tender, savage, doomed questions that only burn in a young mind and only adults and institutions believe they can answer. For me, only monsters hold the secrets I long for. The book has a lot of anxiety — the anxiety that you get when you’re an adolescent, and you don’t understand why everybody lies about the world."

The film is available on Netflix.