Production on the as-yet untitled Prime Video spy series starring Hannah Waddingham and Octavia Spencer will take over a section of Prague 8 this weekend, as filmmakers prepare to shoot an action-heavy sequence involving car chases and crashes.
The Prague 8 district has announced temporary road closures on Rohanské nábřeží near Invalidovna due to filming on February 22 and 23. The affected area stretches from the intersection of U Rustonky and Rohanské nábřeží to the junction with Šaldova Street.
While sidewalks will remain accessible with occasional restrictions, vehicle traffic will be diverted. Personal vehicles will be rerouted along Sokolovská Street, while trucks traveling from Libeň to the city center will be redirected through Holešovice. The closures will be in effect from 6:00 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 22 until 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 23, coinciding with two days of stunt-heavy filming.
The section of Rohanské nábřeží reserved for filming includes a portion adjacent to the new Fragment building that features David Černý’s towering Lilith sculpture (pictured at top), making it likely that one of Prague’s newest landmarks will end up on camera in the series.
Residents and commuters in Prague 8 are advised to plan accordingly for this weekend’s road closures, as the city once again takes center stage for an international TV production.
Prime Video’s Spencer-Waddingham spy series
The untitled Spencer-Waddingham series, shooting under the working title USW, has been in production in Prague since last month. Previously registered with the Czech Audiovisual Fund under the title Well Behaved Women: The Assassin, the project is an eight-episode action-adventure series developed by Skydance Television in collaboration with producers Barbara and Andy Muschietti, as well as Spencer’s production company Orit Entertainment.
Created by Tessa Coates, the series follows Waddingham as Judith, a highly trained assassin whose secret life is revealed when a mission goes wrong. Her best friend Debbie, played by Spencer, is suddenly pulled into the chaos as the two go on the run from a mysterious enemy, testing both their survival skills and their friendship.
The series is one of the largest international projects currently filming in Prague following the production of Blade Runner 2099, which wrapped in December. Exteriors for the latest season of the CBS drama FBI: International, which is primarily filmed in Budapest, were also shot in the Czech capital this month.
Local production services on the untitled Spencer-Waddingham series are being handled by Stillking Films, a longtime partner for major international projects in the Czech Republic, including Interview with the Vampire, The Wheel of Time, and the Oscar-nominated Nosferatu.
Filming for the Waddingham-Spencer series is expected to continue in various locations across the city, with shoots planned for Old Town, New Town, Vinohrady, and Žižkov. Production is set to run through June, and while additional cast details remain under wraps, more official updates are expected soon as filming progresses.
Prague remains a hotspot for Hollywood action
The Spencer-Waddingham series won’t be the first production to stage a major action scene on Prague’s Rohanské nábřeží street, a primary thoroughfare through the Karlín neighborhood that has been lined by dozens of new office buildings over the past two decades following 2002 floods that devastated the area.
Rohanské nábřeží was previously utilized for 2009’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra for a major action scene that involved a collision between a bus and a Hummer. At the time of production in April 2008, it was reported that seven people were hospitalized with minor injuries during the filming of this scene in Prague.
The Czech capital has also played host to major Hollywood blockbusters over the years, including the first Mission: Impossible, The Bourne Identity, Hellboy, and Casino Royale. More recently, Netflix hits The Gray Man and Extraction II made extensive use of locations throughout the city.
Recent large-scale shoots in Prague have included sci-fi and fantasy TV series including Blade Runner 2099, The Wheel of Time, Foundation, Carnival Row and the second season of AMC’s Interview with the Vampire, and modestly-budgeted feature films such as last year’s Nosferatu and the remake of The Crow.
A 2022 per-project cap on production incentives seemed to turn away large-scale Hollywood shoots, but the Czech Republic’s revamped incentives plan, which triples the cap to CZK 450 million (about $19 million) and raises incentives to 25%, hopes to bring them back.
Lead photo: Fragment building in Prague 8 by praguereporter.com
