Where Was 'Fate: The Winx Saga' Filmed and How Do We Move There?!

"Close your eyes and open your heart" — the beginning of the theme song to the iconic 2004 cartoon that sent many young girls into a tailspin on Saturday mornings. Now, Winx Club has been adapted to something darker and built for older audiences in Netflix's Fate: The Winx Saga.

But the sweeping grounds and greenery in the show's background have fans wondering: Where was Fate: The Winx Saga filmed?

Filming for Season 1 of Fate: The Winx Saga took place through 2019, a surprisingly short shoot that went from September to December. Season 2 filmed from July to November 2021, with coronavirus precautions in place.

Primary filming for the show took place in and around Wicklow, Ireland, a city just south of Dublin. The primary filming location was Ardmore Studios in Bray and Ashford Studios in Ballyhenry, Ireland, both equipped with sound stages to perform necessary visual effects. Reportedly, the Dublin Hellfire Club was one of the main filming locations during Season 2.

The Killruddery House in Ireland serves as the backdrop for the Alfea School, including the gardens and greenhouses associated with Alfea, according to The Tab. If you want to visit Alfea in real life, the Killruddery House is typically open to visitors for tours. Other notable locations around Ireland where filming took place include

Adapted from the Italian cartoon Winx Club created by Iginio Straffi, the show focuses on a magical boarding school in the mysterious Other Realm that is populated by fairies, witches, heroes (called "Specialists"), and a variety of villainous creatures. The story centers around a fairy from Earth named Bloom and her five magical best friends.

The live-action adaptation has taken significant liberties with the characters, including the exclusion of Tecna, a fairy of technology and the replacement of Flora, a Latina-coded fairy, with a white character named Terra. Iginio, the show's creator, was interested in a darker, live-action adaptation of the show during his company Rainbow's initial deal with Viacom, the studio that owns Nickelodeon.

The showrunner, Brian Young, previously worked on CW hit The Vampire Diaries, which was also an adaptation, albeit specifically for young adults. Winx Club's initial audience was young women ages 7 and older, so this darker, edgier treatment made some fans of the show significantly worried.

However, during its second season, Fate: the Winx Saga made efforts to course-correct when fans expressed their disappointment with the show's direction on social media following Season 1. Flora was added to the cast with a significant storyline and changes were made to the costuming to give the characters a brighter feel.

Fate: the Winx Saga Seasons 1 and 2 are now available for streaming on Netflix.