Where Was ‘Gilded Newport Mysteries’ Filmed? Star Ali Skovbye Spills The Tea, Emma Vanderbilt-Cross Style

Gilded Newport Mysteries: Murder at the Breakers premiered on Hallmark earlier this week, introducing fans of cozy mystery and Gilded Age drama to intrepid society page writer Emma Vanderbilt-Cross (Ali Skovbye) and the handsome inspector Jesse White (Danny Griffin). The two team up to uncover who murdered the dastardly Alvin Goddard (Cesare Scarpone) at a fabulous party at — where else? — the Vanderbilts’ storied Newport cottage, the Breakers. Okay, but did Gilded Newport Mysteries: Murder at the Breakers actually film at the legendary Rhode Island mansion? Has HBO’s The Gilded Age suddenly transformed Newport into the period drama filming capital of the world? Where was Gilded Newport Mysteries: Murder at the Breakers filmed?

Gilded Newport Mysteries: Murder at the Breakers is the first period murder mystery from Hallmark Movies and Mysteries (soon to be rebranded in March as just Hallmark Mystery). The film is based on one installment in author Alyssa Maxwell’s series of mystery novels set in historic Newport. Gilded Age nerds know that Newport was the Rhode Island town where the obscenely wealthy aristocrats and robber barons of the 18th century decamped to get away from the stuffiness of New York City…only Newport society came with its own level of cutthroat social politics. And in the case of Hallmark’s Gilded Newport Mysteries: Murder at the Breakers, we mean literally cutthroat.

So was Gilded Newport Mysteries: Murder at the Breakers actually filmed in Newport? Where can you visit the same mansions that Emma and Jesse bicker and banter and solve crimes in? Here’s everything you need to know about Gilded Newport Mysteries: Murder at the Breakers‘s filming locations…

Where Was Gilded Newport Mysteries Filmed?

Impressed that Hallmark was able to squeeze in some filming time at the same mansions seen on HBO’s The Gilded Age? Well…that’s not quite what happened. Decider caught up with Gilded Newport Mysteries stars Ali Skovbye and Danny Griffin at the Winter 2024 TCA Press Tour and got the scoop on where they filmed their juicy Hallmark mystery film.

“We actually shot in Victoria, BC. So we didn’t actually shoot in Newport,” Skovbye said. “However, Victoria has a ton of historical buildings and actually a majority of the buildings that we actually filmed in are from the 1800s.”

“Yeah,” Griffin confirmed. 

“So, although it wasn’t in Newport, we still had a lot of authentic, beautiful buildings and I think it shows,” Skovbye said.

Which specific “authentic, beautiful buildings” did Skovbye and Griffin get to film Gilded Newport Mysteries in? Well, for the interiors, it appears the film used the iconic Hatley Castle in Victoria, which has appeared in Deadpool and Arrow. For exteriors, the romantic Royal Roads University seems to have doubled for the Breakers. Not too shabby.