Absentia might be set in Boston, but it wasn't shot in the U.S. The team went all-in on Bulgaria instead. And honestly, it wasn’t just because of the budget. Bulgaria had the exact mood the show needed- dark corners, cold air, and that slightly eerie feeling that fits a thriller.Why Bulgaria?The creators wanted a place that looked sharp on screen. Bulgaria gave them everything: rough landscapes, quiet forests, dense city streets. Even the climate helped. The temperate-continental weather gave them different looks through the seasons, which made the story feel colder or heavier when the script needed it.And yes, filming there costs less than shooting in most Western countries. But the cheaper cost was more like a bonus. The place already fit the tone of the series.Let’s go through the key locations that shaped the show.Key filming locations of AbsentiaAbsentia (Image Source: Prime Video)Sofia: The heart of Absentia’s productionMost of Absentia was filmed in Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital. Season 1’s 10 episodes were completed in a little over three months, almost like they filmed one long movie instead of a traditional show.In Seasons 2 and 3, the team kept returning to Sofia. The city’s mix of old buildings, modern blocks, and industrial pockets helped the story shift moods quickly. The crew used that flexibility a lot.Some of the more tense scenes, those cramped, underground moments, weren’t studio tricks. The team actually shot in real Bulgarian catacombs. It added that raw, unsettling texture you feel on screen.Nu Boyana Film StudiosNu Boyana Film Studios, located in Sofia’s Boyana district, became the home base. The studio is massive. It has sound stages, forest backlots, “American-style” streets, Roman-style sets, and even entire built-up districts. The location managers there are known for recreating almost anything, and the show used that to their advantage.It’s one of those studios that big productions rely on when they want variety without flying across countries every other week.Behind the scenes: Challenges & creative wins View this post on Instagram Instagram PostThe shoot wasn’t easy. The cast filmed during one of Bulgaria’s coldest winters in years. Stana Katic talked about this in interviews- how the brutal weather actually helped the emotional tone of the show. She mentioned that the places felt “like Boston but not entirely,” and how the untouched natural spaces added a certain edge.And the catacombs? Those weren’t sets. The team was down there filming in the real thing. No surprise the scenes came out so claustrophobic and tense.Between all that intensity, the cast kept things light by pranking each other. It’s something crews do to break the heaviness, especially during thriller shoots.Production scale & technical supportDirector Oded Ruskin coordinated multiple storylines at the same time, which isn’t common for TV. He almost treated the show like a feature film.The cinematographers, Nadav Hekselman, Rotem Yaron, and Ziv Berkovich, played a big role too. They blended natural Bulgarian landscapes with studio builds to create that thick, moody the show look we recognize.Takeaway: How Bulgaria became BostonShooting in Bulgaria gave the series a high production value without losing control of the budget. But the real win was the atmosphere. The forests, the cold, the stone corridors, and the old catacombs all made the show more intense.Nu Boyana handled the rest, especially the American-style sets that helped the story feel like it was unfolding in Boston even though the team never shot there.In the end, Absentia might tell a Boston story, but the soul of the show: The look, the chill, the tension- belongs to Bulgaria.