‘The Rainmaker’ Filming Locations Revealed as Peacock Viewers Learn Charleston Is Really Ireland

Viewers who stream the legal drama on Peacock could be forgiven for assuming every frame was shot on the Southern coast. The story follows Rudy Baylor and his girlfriend Sarah Plankmore as new associates at the Charleston law firm Tinley Britt. The reality behind the camera is far more surprising, and the ‘The Rainmaker’ filming locations tell a fascinating story about how modern television gets made.

Primary filming began in October 2024 and wrapped in March 2025, and the production reportedly used the streets of Dublin to stand in for the American setting. So if you have been wondering where the show actually lives, the short answer is Ireland. Here is the full breakdown of where Rudy Baylor’s world was really built.

Peacock Filming Locations In Dublin

Dublin carried most of the load for the series. Reports describe it as the primary filming location, picked in part for a mix of historic architecture and modern structures that made it easier to recreate an American landscape. Streets, offices and buildings around the city were dressed to read as believable US settings.

One of the most important sites was a real hospital. St. Mary’s Hospital in Dublin was reportedly renamed the North City Hospital for the show, which fits a plot built around medical fraud. Since the central legal case revolves around an insurance fight, that location does a lot of heavy lifting.

Even the most personal space in the series was built in Ireland. Rudy’s bare bones loft in Charleston is actually part of a set located in Dublin. Star Milo Callaghan gave co-star Madison Iseman a playful tour of it in a behind the scenes video, which gave fans a rare peek at the illusion.

Wicklow Filming Locations Beyond the City

Not every scene stayed within the Dublin city limits. Some sequences were shot in County Wicklow, nicknamed the garden of Ireland, with the town of Bray among the primary backdrops. The region’s mountains and coastline were used to evoke the natural landscape of South Carolina.

A November 2024 social media post from the Irish extras agency MovieExtras.ie indicated that scenes were filmed across Wicklow, including areas such as Killiney, Bray and Greystones. That gives the production a wide spread of coastal and small town textures to work with. It also helps explain why the series feels visually varied despite its limited base.

Ardmore Studios in Bray Business Park also features among the Wicklow locations. Studio work like this is where much of the interior drama, from boardrooms to bedrooms, most likely came together. Combined with the city shoots, it paints a picture of a production that stayed compact while still looking expansive on screen.

Why ‘The Rainmaker’ Skipped Charleston

The decision came down to money. According to reporting from The Post and Courier, Lionsgate chose to film in Ireland, where Dublin’s urban infrastructure can pass as Charleston streets for a fraction of the cost. The paper also spoke with South Carolina’s tourism director, who said a Lionsgate executive had called about a project written for Charleston.

Ireland offered a strong crew already in place along with an aggressive incentive program that gives 40 percent cash back for using local staff and resources. That kind of math is hard for any studio to ignore. It also sparked conversation in South Carolina about whether the state should build a comparable program to compete.

The production did not abandon Charleston entirely. The studio spent a few days in the city to shoot B-roll of notable locations, and the opening scenes feature downtown Charleston, the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge and the Morrison Yard Office. Those establishing shots are the glue that holds the geographic illusion together.

Do the Irish Filming Locations Actually Work?

Critics have not been uniformly convinced. In its review, Paste Magazine argued that shooting in Ireland gave exterior scenes set in churchyards and old portions of town an alienating and confusing vibe. The review rated the series a middling five and a half out of ten.

Still, plenty of viewers will never notice. Dublin doubling for an American city is a long running television trick, and the show leans on tight interior sets and careful framing to sell the Southern setting. Whether the illusion holds depends largely on how closely you study the architecture in the background.

The geography question may stay relevant going forward. USA Network renewed the series for a second season. An industry production listing shows the next shoot dated for March 2026 with Dublin and Charleston both named as locations.

That suggests the Irish setup is here to stay, with at least some real Charleston presence in the mix. Now that you know how much of Rudy Baylor’s Southern courtroom battle was really built in Dublin and Wicklow, do the Irish backdrops pull you out of the story or does ‘The Rainmaker’ still convince you it belongs in Charleston?