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| Where Is Coven Academy Filmed? All Filming Locations Revealed. |
Coven Academy may be set in a fictionalised New Orleans, but the series was actually filmed entirely in British Columbia, Canada, with Vancouver doing most of the heavy lifting. The city’s streets, historic buildings and modern skyline are transformed into the supernatural world surrounding Crescent Veil, the elite magic boarding school where Briar, Tegan and Sasha learn that passing magical exams might be the least of their problems. New Orleans gets the fictional credit, while Vancouver quietly steps in and does the actual work.
The production began with its pilot, which was filmed over a couple of weeks in June 2025. Once Freeform gave the series the go-ahead, principal photography for the first season began in early December 2025 and continued through the winter, wrapping by early March 2026.
British Columbia has long been useful for productions that need American-looking locations without actually shooting in the United States, and Coven Academy makes particularly good use of Vancouver’s ability to look like somewhere else. It is basically the entertainment industry’s professional shape-shifter.
Vancouver, British Columbia, is the main filming location for Coven Academy. The city provides the backdrop for much of the fictional Crescent Veil world, with production moving through different parts of Vancouver to create the atmosphere of the show's supernatural New Orleans.
Rather than relying entirely on digital scenery, the series makes use of real streets, architecture and city landmarks, giving the fictional setting a more grounded feel. That contrast works rather well for a story about teenage witches trying to survive an elite school while apparently having an entire city to save.
A particularly important area is Gastown, Vancouver’s historic neighbourhood, which became one of the production's key locations. Its older architecture and distinctive streets give Coven Academy a suitably atmospheric setting, especially for a show that needs somewhere to look mysterious without putting a giant sign saying “Mysterious Place” over the entrance. Several indoor and outdoor sequences were filmed around the neighbourhood, helping turn Gastown into another piece of the show's fictionalised New Orleans.
Among the specific Gastown locations used during production was Harbour Light Alley. The narrow urban setting fits naturally into the series’ darker visual style, while its surrounding architecture helps create the sense of an established city with plenty of secrets tucked between its buildings. For Coven Academy, that is pretty much the perfect combination: old streets, unusual corners and enough atmosphere to make a simple walk from one place to another feel as though something supernatural might happen.
Production also filmed around 5 Powell Street, another specific Vancouver location associated with the series. The area adds another layer to the show's cityscape and was used for portions of the production alongside other parts of Gastown. It is one of those locations that demonstrates how Coven Academy builds its fictional New Orleans from recognisable pieces of Vancouver rather than constructing everything from scratch.
Vancouver’s skyline also plays an important role in establishing the setting. The city’s distinctive collection of high-rises and landmarks appears in wider and aerial views, with Living Shangri-La among the buildings visible in the backdrop. The skyscraper’s sleek profile provides a sharp contrast to Gastown’s older streets, giving the series a city that feels both historic and modern. That visual mixture is useful for a fantasy drama that wants its world to feel lived-in rather than trapped in one particular period.
The Paradox Hotel Vancouver also appears among the buildings featured in the city's wider establishing imagery. Its contemporary architecture contributes to the modern side of the Vancouver skyline used by the production. In a series where magic exists alongside ordinary teenage life, that mixture of recognisable modern surroundings and supernatural storytelling helps make the premise feel less detached from reality.
Another recognisable building in the backdrop is Vancouver House, whose unusual architecture makes it particularly easy to spot in wider city views. Its distinctive shape adds another visual marker to the Vancouver setting and helps establish the scale of the fictional city around Crescent Veil. The production clearly had plenty to work with; Vancouver was not exactly short of dramatic buildings.
Harbour Centre is another Vancouver landmark included in the wider establishing imagery. The tower is one of the city’s most recognisable pieces of architecture, giving aerial and long-distance shots an unmistakable Vancouver identity even while the story asks viewers to imagine they are looking at New Orleans. It is one of those little geographical tricks that works because the skyline is doing the storytelling quietly in the background.
The skyline also includes The Melville, adding another prominent architectural feature to the production’s Vancouver backdrop. Alongside the surrounding towers, it helps create the dense urban environment required for the fictional city. The result is a version of New Orleans that obviously has some Canadian architectural fingerprints, but Coven Academy is hardly pretending to offer a documentary tour of Louisiana.
MNP Tower is also part of the collection of Vancouver buildings visible in establishing shots. Its modern appearance strengthens the contemporary cityscape surrounding the characters and provides another recognisable element in the wider views. These buildings may not be where Briar, Tegan or Sasha spend their fictional school days, but they help sell the larger world in which their supernatural problems unfold.
The Fairmont Pacific Rim rounds out the major Vancouver landmarks identified in the production's establishing and aerial imagery. Its presence adds another polished piece of the city's skyline to the show’s visual language. Put together, these locations give Coven Academy a backdrop that moves between historic streets and modern towers, which is arguably more interesting than making every scene look like the same haunted corridor.
There is also a broader reason Vancouver works so neatly for Coven Academy. British Columbia has been used for productions requiring a wide range of American settings, and Vancouver can shift between different visual identities with surprisingly little fuss. In this case, Gastown provides the older, atmospheric streets while the downtown skyline supplies the scale and modernity. The result is a fictional New Orleans assembled from very real Vancouver surroundings.
For viewers who want to connect Coven Academy with other productions, Vancouver has also appeared in projects such as Backrooms, Final Destination: Bloodlines. That makes the city particularly familiar territory for horror and supernatural productions. Apparently, when television needs somewhere to look slightly unsettling, Vancouver keeps getting the call.
My take is that the choice of Vancouver is one of the more interesting parts of Coven Academy because the production does not need to completely disguise the city to make the setting work. Gastown’s historic character, Vancouver’s modern skyline and the mix of old and new architecture give the series plenty of visual texture before the witches even start doing anything.
There is also something amusing about watching a story supposedly rooted in New Orleans while buildings from Vancouver are quietly appearing in the background like they have wandered onto the wrong set. Still, that contrast can work in the show's favour. A fictionalised setting does not have to reproduce every detail of the real place, and the Vancouver locations give Coven Academy room to create its own version of New Orleans rather than simply copying the real city.
So, if you are planning to follow the Coven Academy filming locations, Vancouver is the place to put on the map, with Gastown, Harbour Light Alley and 5 Powell Street standing out alongside the city landmarks visible in wider shots.
The locations offer a fun excuse to look at Vancouver through a completely different lens: one minute you are admiring the skyline, and the next you are wondering whether a secret coven is hiding behind the nearest old doorway. Which Coven Academy filming location would you most like to visit, and does Vancouver convince you as the show's fictional New Orleans?