As the coronavirus causes turmoil in the Czech Republic, with the government closing schools and banning events with more than 100 people, another casualty has been felt on the Prague filming scene.
Cast and crew for the Marvel TV series The Falcon and the Winter Solider, expected to debut on Disney+ later this year, arrived in Prague last week after lengthy shoots in Atlanta. The shoot was expected to last a few weeks.
But as of yesterday, all crew members have been sent back home as the coronavirus situation quickly develops in the Czech Republic and particularly in Prague. As of Wednesday morning, 34 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Prague, and 64 in the country as a whole.
This isn’t the first time production on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has been affected by world events. Earlier this year, a shoot in Puerto Rico was cancelled after devastating earthquakes caused widespread damage.
It’s unknown whether production on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will head back to Czech locations at a later date, but that seems highly unlikely.
Still, Prague may yet factor into the events of the TV series. The Marvel film Spider-Man: Far From Home was also partially set and shot in the Czech capital, and many fans theorize the Prague shoot was intended to expand on local developments from the Spider-Man feature.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier isn’t the only high-profile TV series currently shooting in the Czech Republic.
The second season of Carnival Row and the first of The Wheel of Time are both in the midst of lengthy Prague shoots expected to wrap later this spring.
No word yet if the coronavirus may interrupt filming on those series, but local production may cross the 100-people threshold on gatherings currently set by the Czech government.
