You Won’t Believe Where Black Rabbit Was Filmed

Netflix's Black Rabbit is one of those shows that is not just about two big names (Jude Law and Jason Bateman) glaring at each other across a table. It is sweaty, fast, a little frantic, and very specific about where it lives: the high-pressure corners of New York City nightlife. If you felt like you could smell the spilled martinis, that is on purpose.

What the show is doing

Across eight episodes, the series follows Law's Jake, who owns the namesake restaurant and VIP lounge, and his brother Vince, as old wounds and fresh threats push their carefully built world to the edge. Beyond the tension, the show leans hard into a polished-grimy look and a strong sense of place — and that place is very much New York.

So where did they actually shoot?

No cheats here: Black Rabbit filmed entirely on location in New York City between April and September 2024. They moved through Manhattan (yes, including the West Village), Brooklyn (Coney Island made the cut), and Queens. The production also ducked into some very specific, very New York spots:

• The long-closed Bridge Cafe
• Deep in the Russian & Turkish Baths
• Times Square
• The lobby at Bellevue Hospital

The New York they wanted (and why it looks like that)

Co-creator Kate Susman told Vanity Fair they were after their own version of the city — not the glossy postcard, but the downtown underbelly that has not been sanded smooth. Think tactile, textured, a little ugly in a way that is weirdly intoxicating. She even pointed to the old Page Six rumor mill as part of the thrill when they were in their 20s: the breathless morning-after whispers about what went down at certain restaurants. If that feels like inside baseball, it is, and the show leans into it.

How they built the Black Rabbit itself

Fellow co-creator Zach Baylin said the fictional restaurant pulls from real New York dining legends — the kind of rooms that become cultural crossroads. There is a nod to Dressler, whose owner had a tragic, complicated life, and to places like Waverly Inn and Minetta Tavern, spots that mixed artists, writers, and musicians into actual communities. In other words, not just a hot table; a whole ecosystem.

Jude Law, who also executive produces, spent a lot of time in New York during the era the creators are channeling. He talked about tapping into that raw city energy and weaving the show’s invented past into the city’s real history so it feels lived-in and true. His litmus test is pretty simple:

"We wanted you to look at it and go, 'Oh, was this real? Did I go there? Have I had a beer at that place? I think I did.'"

Black Rabbit is streaming now on Netflix.