The idyllic There’s an oasis by the sea, and it’s on full display in Netflix’s mysterious drama The perfect couple.

Based on the novel of the same name by Elin Hilderbrand, the six-episode series, starring Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber, centers on the wealthy and seemingly perfect Windbury family. But when a body washes up on the family’s historic seaside estate, Summerland, they suddenly find themselves at the center of a murder investigation that could reveal all of their secrets.

Apart from the fascinating whodunit element during wedding parties, The perfect couple is also set against a picturesque background, making the massacre even more disorienting.

In Hilderbrand’s signature style, the 2018 book is set on Nantucket, Mass., but it wasn’t the only destination visited when the best-seller was brought to the small screen. That said, the author assured Boston.com in June 2024 that the limited series has an “authentic Cape and island feel.”

So where is The perfect couple filmed? Here’s everything you need to know about the show’s real-life locations.

Was The perfect couple filmed on Nantucket?

The majority of The perfect couple was not filmed on Nantucket, despite Hilderbrand using the island as a setting for the book.

In September 2023, Liliana Kondracki, the location manager for The perfect coupleand a crew of about 50 people filmed on Nantucket from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.

They shot B-roll footage of a car driving past Mitchell’s Book Corner, the Brotherhood of Thieves restaurant and the Soldiers and Sailors Civil War Monument on Main Street. All three locations were decorated for the Fourth of July, according to the Nantucket Current.

In an interview with the Motion Picture Association’s online magazine The Credits in September 2024, cinematographer Shane Hurlbut discussed what it was like working with director Susanne Bier and fellow cinematographer Roberto De Angeles.

According to Hurlbut, Bier gave him and De Angeles free rein to design the show, as long as they adhered to her vision. “This idea of ​​a rich, affluent, sun-drenched Fourth of July on the Cape. She described it as a ‘popcorn suspense thriller,’” he recalled.

The two cameramen made several decisions, including when to film outdoors. With the intense plot of the show in mind, they used the location as another character to enhance storylines and emotions.

“We specifically didn’t shoot things at night because we felt the script and the actors would bring out the darkness, the drama, the tension, the skeletons in the closet,” he explained. “We wanted to have these light, airy, beautifully sunlit images and show you Nantucket like you’ve never seen it before.”

To complete the picture, Hurlbut and De Angeles captured the island from the air.

“The air was everything to us. We flew a helicopter a mile and a half off Nantucket and captured the entire island as an essence,” Hurlbut added. “Roberto and I wanted to see the scale of this island and take in the glamour and the richness of Nantucket and the Cape.”

Where was The perfect couple filmed?

The perfect couple was largely filmed in the seaside town of Chatham, located at the tip of Cape Cod in Massachusetts.

Although scenic shots were taken on Nantucket, several locations in Chatham were used for key moments, including Eastward Point. The Chatham neighborhood served as the backdrop for the show, with its single-family homes and private beaches on Pleasant Bay, per Cape Cod Times.

Additionally, the production was filmed at the historic Chatham Beach and Tennis Club, located on Lighthouse Beach, as seen in one of the trailers for The perfect couple.

The crew also transformed Northport Plaza, now home to Elwood’s Raw Bars, into the Nantucket Police Department. Netflix built an interrogation room and jail cell in the basement, which Elwood co-owner David Eldredge hoped they would leave behind, but they didn’t.

“They took everything,” he said Cape Cod Chronicleand explained that he wanted to transform the set into an exclusive dining area.

Does Summerland exist in a real place?

Summerland is not a real place, but the house you see in The perfect couple seems to be.

Only a few details are currently available about the Massachusetts house where the limited series was filmed.

According to Cape Cod Chronicle, The perfect couple was filmed on a waterfront estate in Chatham’s Eastward Point neighborhood.

During an interview with Netflix’s Tudum, showrunner Jenna Lamia confirmed that the real Winbury estate was located in Chatham.

“That was our home base and we enhanced it with blue hydrangeas,” she explains.

Why does Elin Hilderbrand set her books on Nantucket?

Over the course of her 20-year career, Hilderbrand has written nearly 30 books set off the coast of Massachusetts. That was the intention from the start.

In a May 2020 interview, the writer candidly talked about spending summers in Brewster, Massachusetts, where she and her family would rent a cabin every July and spend their days on the beach, grilling, and playing mini-golf. She told the outlet it was one of the “happiest times” of her life.

Sadly, Hilderbrand’s father died when she was 16, and the tradition came to an abrupt end. However, she vowed to return to the beach one day.

After graduating from the University of Maryland and moving to New York to teach English, Hilderbrand began vacationing on Nantucket during her summers. She eventually decided to move there permanently in 1994, and six years later she published her first book, The beach club.