Where Netflix’s ‘The Boroughs’ Was Really Filmed and Whether Its Eerie Retirement Community Is Based on a Real Place

Netflix has a new supernatural obsession, and it lives in the desert. ‘The Boroughs’ takes place in an idyllic yet undeniably weird New Mexico retirement cul-de-sac community where sun-drenched perfection hides something deeply monstrous beneath the surface. With its manicured lawns, pristine golf carts, and creeping dread, the world of the show feels unnervingly plausible.

The series follows a group of elderly residents as they face unearthly threats, with themes of stolen time and mysterious creatures plaguing the isolated community. Whether you’ve already binge-watched all eight episodes or are about to dive in, you’re probably wondering how real any of it actually is. Here is everything you need to know about where ‘The Boroughs’ was filmed and what inspired its fictional setting.

The Real New Mexico Filming Locations Behind ‘The Boroughs’

The New Mexico Film Office announced that ‘The Boroughs’, an eight-episode supernatural mystery from Netflix, would be filming in and around Albuquerque and Santa Fe. The production leaned fully into the state’s dramatic terrain, and the results are unmistakable on screen.

Albuquerque, the state’s largest city, served as the main filming location, with its mixture of dusty deserts backdropped by craggy mountains and pockmarked by suburban streets, especially around the Sandia Foothills. Old Town Albuquerque, with its narrow streets and terracotta adobe architecture, also features, as does the state capital Santa Fe, especially Canyon Road and Los Cerrillos.

Filming began on September 6, 2024 in Albuquerque on the Aperture Plaza at Netflix Studios, and concluded after five months on February 8, 2025. That is a significant chunk of production time embedded in the New Mexico landscape, and it shows.

‘The Boroughs’ joins a long line of dramas filmed in the state, with recent hits including ‘Eddington’, ‘Honey Don’t’, ‘Love Lies Bleeding’, ‘Better Call Saul’ and, of course, ‘Stranger Things’. New Mexico has quietly become one of the most sought-after backdrops in the genre space.

How the Production Team Built the Retirement Community From Scratch

Not everything you see on screen was lifted from existing New Mexico neighbourhoods. Production designer Ruth Ammon, known for ‘Station Eleven’ and ‘Pachinko’, and her team were responsible for bringing the world of the fictional retirement community to life. The scope of her work is genuinely staggering.

Creator Jeffrey Addiss explained the build in detail, saying the team constructed eight houses on a back lot, including Sam’s cul-de-sac and the entirety of the downtown Boroughs shops. Every storefront was fully operational, right down to the working coffee machines.

Addiss described the achievement as a feat, calling the result beautiful and noting that everything in ‘The Boroughs’ was thought through in fine detail by the production crew. That commitment to tactile, fully realised world-building is part of what gives the show its eerie, lived-in quality.

The production employed over 2,000 New Mexicans, including 275 crew members, 32 principal actors, and 1,934 background talent, making it a substantial economic force for the region’s thriving film industry.

Is ‘The Boroughs’ Retirement Community Based on a Real Place?

This is where things get interesting. While ‘The Boroughs’ is not based on one retirement community in particular, it does bear a resemblance to many such later-life villages dotted across the US and the world, reflecting a rising trend tied to the West’s rapidly ageing population and Baby Boomers demanding an active, wellness-focused lifestyle in their later years.

The creators drew on senior touchstones like ‘The Golden Girls’ and ‘Cocoon’ for inspiration when developing the concept. The debt to Ron Howard’s beloved 1985 film is something the entire creative team has been open about.

The Duffer Brothers expressed their enthusiasm for the project, saying they had wondered for years why nobody had made another film in the spirit of ‘Cocoon’, before Addiss and Matthews emailed them with the idea for ‘The Boroughs’, pitching a story about retirees and monsters that was adamant about not treating ageing as a punchline, instead treating its characters as real people facing real challenges alongside a few supernatural ones.

The Duffer Brothers’ Vision for an Unlikely Sci-Fi Setting

The Duffer Brothers have a noted affinity for rural paranormal towns, stretching from 1980s Hawkins, Indiana, to now, the New Mexico desert. ‘The Boroughs’ fits neatly into that tradition while pushing into genuinely new territory.

One of the creative drivers behind placing the mystery in a retirement setting was the idea that retirees, like teenagers, are overlooked, dismissed, and not taken seriously, making them the perfect protagonists for a monster story where no one will believe their claims. It is a sharp piece of genre logic that gives the show real thematic weight.

Easily described as the best of the three Netflix series the Duffers have shepherded since ‘Stranger Things’ concluded, ‘The Boroughs’ shares that franchise’s Spielbergian juxtaposition of horror and heart, excelling at humanising characters that Hollywood too often caricatures. The show’s setting, both real and constructed, is a key ingredient in making that emotional register land.

Creator Jeffrey Addiss described the series as an adventure show with a dangerous puzzle at its heart, real scares and real danger, while Matthews added that he would happily live at ‘The Boroughs’ himself if it were not for a pesky monster problem.

Now that you know just how much of that world was painstakingly built piece by piece in the New Mexico desert, we want to hear from you, so tell us: does knowing the Boroughs retirement community was mostly constructed on a back lot make it feel more impressive, or does it change how you see the show’s unsettling atmosphere?