“New Orleans is so mystical to me,” says actress Rutina Wesley about her favorite American city, which she first fell in love with while filming HBO’s True Blood. “People live in their truth; what you see is what you get.” Audiences have been seeing a lot more of the city thanks to a proliferation of shows shot there, including the following:
Treme
The Wire creator David Simon’s love letter to the Big Easy, the HBO series was a post-Katrina look at class, music and tradition that starred many natives of New Orleans, such as Wendell Pierce.
American Horror Story: Coven
The Golden Globe–nominated season three of this FX cult hit upped the show’s shock factor and starred Kathy Bates—whose character tortured slaves—and Angela Bassett, who charmed as powerful voodoo leader Marie Laveau.
Roots
For the remake of the iconic seventies miniseries, filmmakers went to Louisiana and shot at four plantations near New Orleans. One, Madewood, was also used in Beyoncé’s visual album Lemonade, and another, Evergreen, was featured in Django Unchained.
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Mudbound
Pariah and Bessie director Dee Rees uses areas in and around New Orleans for her upcoming film. Based on the 2008 novel, it’s a period drama about two World War II vets returning home. Charles D. King’s company, Macro, is producing.
NCIS: New Orleans
When CBS decided on a second spin-off of its hit NCIS, it headed to NOLA. Now in its third season, the drama investigates crime against men and women in the military. CCH Pounder stars as a medical examiner.