Filming is now underway in Prague on Netflix’s The Age of Innocence, a new limited series based on Edith Wharton’s Pulitzer Prize–winning 1920 novel. Production began this fall and will continue through March 2026, both in studio and on location. Over the weekend, filming took place in the Czech capital’s historic center on streets of Old Town and New Town in the vicinity of Wenceslas Square. Prague locations will stand in for 19th-century New York City in the series.
The Age of Innocence, written and executive produced by Emma Frost (The White Queen, Jamaica Inn), brings Wharton’s tale of love and social constraint to a new generation. Directed in part by Shannon Murphy (Dying for Sex, Babyteeth), the eight-episode series explores themes of freedom, duty, and passion through a contemporary lens while remaining true to Wharton’s original story.
Stillking Films, one of Prague’s leading production companies, is coordinating the Czech shoot. The project joins a slate of major international productions currently filming in the city, reflecting the Czech Republic’s growing importance as a global filming hub thanks to competitive incentives and skilled local crews.
A rich ensemble cast brings Wharton’s world to life
Netflix’s adaptation of The Age of Innocence features a large international cast led by Ben Radcliffe (Masters of the Air) as Newland Archer, a young lawyer caught between love and duty; Camila Morrone (Daisy Jones & the Six) as the free-spirited Countess Ellen Olenska; and Kristine Froseth (The Buccaneers) as May Welland, Archer’s proper and devoted fiancée. Margo Martindale (The Americans, Justified) portrays the formidable matriarch Mrs. Manson-Mingott.
Radcliffe and Froseth have some recent experience on Prague shoots: they both starred in Anna Biller‘s The Face of Horror, which filmed in the Czech capital over the summer. In tabloids, Morrone was best known as Leonardo DiCaprio‘s girlfriend of five years until 2022. Martindale has won multiple Emmys for her roles on TV and has appeared in films such as Cocaine Bear and August: Osage County.
Rounding out the ensemble cast for The Age of Innocence are Fiona Glascott (Brooklyn), Belinda Bromilow (The Great), and Emma Shipp (Rivals), who join as series regulars. Glascott plays May’s traditional mother Augusta Welland, Bromilow portrays Newland’s independent mother Adeline Archer, and Shipp appears as his unmarried sister, Janey. Veteran actress Hayley Mills guest stars as Louisa van der Luyden, an influential member of New York high society.
The supporting cast includes Ryan Morgan, Kel Matsena, Lucia Balordi, Steven Pacey, Will Tudor, Elly Roberts, Michael Cochrane, Jack Cutmore-Scott, Anna Madeley, and John Light, each portraying characters within the novel’s intricate social web. Among them are John Welland, the stern family patriarch; Julius Beaufort, an arrogant banker; and Aunt Medora, Ellen’s lively guardian.
Behind the camera, the series is helmed by a team of experienced directors. Murphy directs the first three episodes and also serves as executive producer, joined by Lisa Brühlmann (Killing Eve) and Natalia Leite (The Handmaid’s Tale). Executive producers include Frost alongside Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, and Tracey Cook of Chernin Entertainment, continuing Netflix’s collaboration with the production company on projects such as Back in Action, The Madness, and the upcoming Man on Fire.
Originally published in 1920, The Age of Innocence earned Wharton the distinction of becoming the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Set in the upper echelons of 1870s New York society, the novel explores the tension between personal desire and social obligation through the story of Newland Archer, who finds himself torn between duty to his fiancée and love for her unconventional cousin.
The story has been adapted several times, most notably in Martin Scorsese’s 1993 film starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Winona Ryder. That version received five Academy Award nominations, winning for costume design. Netflix’s series promises to build on that legacy with a serialized format that allows deeper exploration of the novel’s moral and emotional complexity.
For Frost, who has built her career on period dramas led by strong female characters, the project offers an opportunity to reinterpret Wharton’s story for modern audiences. “It’s about love, freedom, and identity—questions that are as relevant today as they were in Wharton’s time,” she said in an earlier statement announcing the project.
Prague’s growing role in global production
For Prague, The Age of Innocence represents another major addition to its increasingly crowded production calendar. In 2025, the Czech capital has hosted a string of international shoots, including Amazon’s Ride or Die, Disney+’s The Remarried Empress, and Netflix’s The Empress, as well as a major German-language historical production. The city’s distinctive mix of Gothic, Baroque, and Art Nouveau architecture allows it to convincingly double for a range of historical settings—from Victorian London to 19th-century New York—as well as contemporary Europe.
The Czech Film Commission has cited the country’s robust 25 percent rebate program as a key factor in attracting major productions. Earlier this year, the government raised the cap on individual project incentives from CZK 150 million to CZK 450 million, a move that has made Czechia more competitive with regional rivals such as Hungary.
The Czech Audiovisual Fund has allocated a total of CZK 360 million (about $17.3 million) in incentives for The Age of Innocence, indicating that the production is expected to spend in the neighborhood of CZK 1.5 billion ($72 million) in the Czech Republic.
“Prague continues to prove its versatility for international productions,” said Pavlína Žipková, head of the Czech Film Commission, in a June interview. “The craftsmanship of local crews, combined with the incentive system, makes the city a natural choice for period dramas like The Age of Innocence.”
Netflix has increasingly turned to the Czech Republic for historical and fantasy settings. In recent years, Prague has hosted shoots for titles such as The Gray Man, All Quiet on the Western Front, and The Empress. For The Age of Innocence, the city’s ornate interiors and cobblestoned streets are expected to provide a richly atmospheric backdrop for Wharton’s tale of romantic restraint and societal expectation.
With filming now underway and expected to continue through next March, The Age of Innocence adds another high-profile entry to Prague’s growing list of international productions.
Lead photo: Camila Morrone (by Isabella Lombardini) / Kristine Froseth (Getty) / Ben Radcliffe (Pip) / Margo Martindale (Victoria Will) courtesy Netflix
