Where was Bad Influencer shot? Revisiting key filming locations of the Netflix series

If you’ve just finished watching Bad Influencer on Netflix and found yourself wondering, “Hey! Where did they shoot this?”, you’re in luck. This South African crime drama doesn’t just set its story in the city of gold, but it also embraces it. Here's a breakdown of the filming locations, production details, and why they matter.

Here’s a deeper look at the plot of Bad Influencer (Netflix, 2025). This story mixes crime-capers, influencer culture, and survival in Johannesburg, the primary filming location of the show.

BK (played by Jo‑Anne Reyneke) is a single mother under significant financial stress, striving to provide for her son with special needs. She set up a home-based counterfeit luxury-handbag operation to try to make ends meet, and meets Pinky (played by Cindy Mahlangu), a luxury-lifestyle social media influencer, accustomed to gloss and followers, but also facing her own troubles, such as losing income or relevance.

They team up to sell fake designer bags online under the guise of real luxury: BK makes, Pinky markets. They believe they’ve found a clever hustle until complexities arrive.

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Where was Bad Influencer shot?

Primary Location: Johannesburg, South Africa

The better part of Bad Influencer was filmed in and around Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city and the heart of its Gauteng province. According to the series creator Kudi Maradzika, the city’s “visual depth” was a major draw: they wanted to capture both the glossy luxury side and the gritty underground side of Jo'burg.

The show uses the city not just as a backdrop, but as a character: from high-end areas (like Sandton) to lesser-seen inner-city markets, the location work aims to convey both glamour and danger.

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Key areas and visual contrasts

Here are some of the more specific filming zones and how they helped shape the story’s atmosphere:

Scenes involving designer handbags, influencer events, and posh hangouts lean into the affluent side of Jo'burg, likely within or around places like Sandton. Maradzika mentions drone footage of city skylines and high-end urban scenes.

The counterfeiting syndicate and clandestine operations lean heavily into Johannesburg’s “underground” feel, like markets with clandestine goods, street-level interactions, and hidden warehouses. The creator explicitly visited “off-the-grid, underground market areas” in Johannesburg to capture this.

One of Maradzika’s favourite memories was filming an action sequence at night in the city. The contrast between lights, urban grit, and the night sky works to elevate the drama.

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Why the location choice matters in Bad Influencer

By filming in Johannesburg rather than substituting another city, Bad Influencer gains texture, and the interplay between sleek influencer culture and street-level survival becomes more believable.

The setting mirrors the themes, that is, the contrast between appearance and reality, the influence of social media vs. the hidden supply chain of counterfeit goods, the city's seeming glamour vs. its shadow economy.

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So, if you love location-hunting…

Next time you watch Bad Influencer, keep an eye out for the skyline shots or drone sweeps of Johannesburg that give the “big city” vibe. Or, the scenes were shot in narrower alleys, market stalls, or warehouse-type spaces. Basically, the hidden side of the city.

Filming timeline and production notes

Bad Influencer is developed through the Realness Institute/Netflix Episodic Lab with production by Gambit Films and other partners. Filming reportedly spanned two to three months, with November–December 2024 as the core window. The series premiered globally on Netflix on October 31, 2025.

Also, let's not forget the shots where luxury meets street, e.g., the contrast between high-end events and back-door dealings.