Netflix's 'Donggung' filmed palace scenes across 7+ Korean regions — here's where each shot was

Netflix's Donggung didn't build one palace — it assembled one from pieces scattered across the country.

Director Choi Jung-gyoo said in a July interview, "I wanted to capture the beauty of Korean palaces and old spaces that only we can show." The result is a patchwork of real heritage sites, historic film sets, and a university campus pond standing in for royal grounds.

The actual Geunjeongjeon hall of Gyeongbokgung Palace appears multiple times in the drama. The ending credits include a disclaimer that "content filmed at Gyeongbokgung differs from historical fact." For longer exterior throne hall sequences, the production used Buan Film Theme Park, a set built during the KBS drama Immortal Yi Sun-shin that recreates Changdeokgung Palace's Injeongjeon. Interior throne hall scenes were shot at Yongin Daejanggeum Park, which was established during the production of MBC's Sindo.

The Queen Dowager's 60th birthday celebration was filmed at Gaun Set in Mungyeong, Gyeongbuk — the same set that appeared as Goguryeo's Anhak Palace in SBS's Yeon Gaesomun. The fortress gate in the final episode, where the character Saeng-gang rides toward the palace, is Jogok-gwan at Mungyeong Saejae.

Nam Joo-hyuk's character Gu-cheon first appears at Haesnam Dosol-am hermitage. The scene where Gu-cheon meets the king, played by Jo Seung-woo, was filmed at Gaesim-sa temple in Seosan, South Chungcheong. Not near Dosol-am at all.

The pond sequence pulls from three separate locations. The bamboo forest entrance is Gyeonggi-jeon in Jeonju. The area around the pond is Gwanghalluwon in Namwon. A pond on Hoseo University's Asan Campus in South Chungcheong also appears in the drama. (A university pond doing royal duty is very much a flex.)

The scene where a mudang dies was filmed at Wiyangji in Miryang; the pavilion visible there is Wanjae-jeong.