Where was Expats filmed? 4 iconic Hong Kong locations in Nicole Kidman’s new Amazon Prime TV show – from Victoria Harbour to the Instagram-famous Monster Building, and which cha chaan teng?
In August 2021, the government decided to allow the Hollywood star, and director Lulu Wang and her crew, to skip the city’s lengthy quarantine period in the name of filming Expats, which sparked outrage among residents.
Expats is based on the novel The Expatriates by Janice Y.K. Lee, a Hong Kong-born American with Korean expatriate parents. Many of the city’s iconic locations provide the backdrop to the show.
The show’s recently released trailer offers a glimpse of the storyline as well as some of the scenery. Here, we trace the filmmakers’ footsteps for a look at where the novel and series found inspiration across Hong Kong.
1. Mei Foo Sun Chuen
Moments into the series, we see Kidman looking out of her window at a view of residential buildings in Mid-Levels. In the next shot, we glimpse a cluster of structures in beige and blue. These are actually part of Mei Foo Sun Chuen, one of the city’s first large-scale private housing estates, and one of the largest in the world when its first stage was completed in 1968. Situated in Lai Chi Kok, Kowloon, the development comprises 99 blocks with roughly 13,500 flats housing some 70,000 to 80,000 residents.
2. Fa Yuen Street Market
Next, we catch the neon lights and the colourful canopies that line Mong Kok’s Fa Yuen Street. The trailer shows a transition of the street from day to night, with Kidman later standing in the middle of an empty Fa Yuen Street Market.
3. Victoria Harbour skyline
4. Mido Cafe
- Hongkongers have been following the show’s production since 2021, when Kidman, director Lulu Wang and her crew were allowed to skip the city’s Covid-19 quarantine, sparking controversy
- The series, based on The Expatriates by Korean-American author Janice Y.K. Lee, shows backdrops from the skyline to Fa Yuen Street – but Kidman’s Mid-Levels view was actually somewhere else …