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If you feel like Dopesick doesn’t look quite like other shows, you’re onto something. Hulu’s newest miniseries tells the origin story of OxyContin and how one company, Purdue Pharma, created one of the most addictive drugs in modern history. A huge part of telling this story correctly came down to nailing its filming locations.
Though Dopesick uses fictional characters and plots, it draws from real life. The eight-episode series is based on author Beth Macy’s Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors and the Drug Company that Addicted America. A reporter and nonfiction writer, Macy was a journalist for The Roanoke Times from 1989 to 2014. It’s while she was working in Virginia that she started interviewing people about the opioid epidemic, the groundwork that would become Dopesick.
When it came time for Hulu to pick a filming location, Macy, who serves as an executive producer for the miniseries, pushed hard for Virginia. “Virginia deserves this. We’re writing about Virginia. Let’s make it authentic,” Macy told the Richmond-Times Dispatch.
So where exactly was Dopesick filmed? The cast and crew arrived in Richmond in December of 2020 and filmed until May of this year. Production used several spots that should be recognizable to locals. According to the Richmond-Times Dispatch, the Canal Walk, the Fan District, Bookbinder’s Restaurant, the Manchester Bridge, and Boulevard Burger and Brew all served as filming locations. Additionally, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts serves as a recurring setting for the series. That’s where the Sackler family’s boardroom is in the series.
Richmond wasn’t the only site for this new series. The team also filmed in Hopewell, Bowling Green, Lexington, and Clifton Forge. That last location became the fictional town of Finch Creek and took the crew two weeks to film. Altogether the series hired over 200 local cast members. This is all to say, Dopesick isn’t just telling a true story. It’s being as authentic as possible to its source material right down to its location.
