Crew Girl premiered on Netflix on September 10, 2026, and reached number one on the platform’s global TV chart within a week. Its setting, Eagle’s Cove, does not exist. Easton Prep does not exist. But Hatley Castle does. Elk Lake does. Port Sidney Marina does. Every location that makes the show feel real is a very real place on southern Vancouver Island.
The show is set in Eagle’s Cove, a fictional Massachusetts town and follows 16-year-old rowing prodigy Teagan Tao after a family scandal forces her to relocate. Her new school, the elite Easton Prep, has no girls rowing team. So she becomes coxswain for the chaotic boys’ varsity crew instead.
None of Eagle’s Cove is real. None of Easton Prep is real. But every location that brought them to life is very much a real place you can visit. Let’s break down all the actual shooting locations.
Netflix’s Crew Girl Filming Locations
Crew Girl was filmed entirely in Greater Victoria on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The production ran from September 8, 2025 to November 21, 2025, and wrapped nearly a year before the series premiered globally on Netflix.
The team rebuilt an entire New England world from scratch, neighbourhood by neighbourhood, waterway by waterway. A 1908 castle stood in for a prestigious prep school. A working marina played a fictional town dock. It feels like a place with a history because the real locations behind it genuinely have one.
Hatley Castle, Colwood
The scenes at Easton Prep were filmed at Hatley Castle, a 40-room Gothic Revival mansion built in 1908 on the grounds of Royal Roads University in Colwood, just west of Victoria. The production used the building’s grand exterior, entryways, lawns, and several interior spaces for classrooms, hallways, and student common areas.
The castle sits inside Hatley Park National Historic Site, surrounded by formal Italian, Japanese, and rose gardens. Old-growth forest borders the property on one side, and the ocean sits nearby on the other. It gives Easton Prep exactly the old-money atmosphere the story demands.
Fans of superhero films will likely feel a flicker of recognition. Hatley Castle has one of the busiest screen histories in Canada. Here is a look at some of the most notable productions that have filmed there:
| Production | How Hatley Castle Was Used |
|---|---|
| X-Men franchise (multiple films) | Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters |
| Smallville (TV series) | Luthor Manor |
| Arrow (TV series) | Queen Manor |
| The Descendants (2011 film) | Featured as a school location |
| Crew Girl (2026, Netflix) | Easton Prep school campus |
Visitors can explore the Hatley Park gardens for free daily from 10 a.m. to dusk. Getting inside the castle itself requires joining a guided tour. Public daily tours for 2026 have wrapped, with 2027 dates expected in spring.
Elk/Beaver Lake Regional Park, Saanich
Elk Lake, part of Elk/Beaver Lake Regional Park in Saanich, served as Easton Prep’s primary rowing facilities in Episode 1. The Victoria Rowing Club’s facilities at the lake doubled as the school’s boathouse and training docks. Hamsterly Beach, also at the park, appears during the crew team’s clambake scene.
The lake is a real competitive rowing venue. On any given morning, you can see local crews out on the water doing exactly what Teagan and the Easton boys are doing on screen. Visitors can walk the trails around the lake and watch. This choice of location was not just practical. It was a production decision that added authenticity. The crew did not fake a rowing club. They filmed at one.
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Gorge Waterway and Selkirk Waterfront, Victoria
Race day in Crew Girl looks intense. What you might not know is that the water you are watching is a real competitive rowing stretch used by actual rowers in Victoria.
The Gorge Waterway and Selkirk Waterfront appear throughout the series. The Gorge features prominently in race scenes around Tillicum Road Bridge. Selkirk Waterfront serves as the setting for the show’s opening regatta.
The Victoria City Rowing Club on the Gorge Waterway also appears, with its boathouse, docks, and launch areas used to build the competitive rowing world of the show. The Gorge Narrows Rowing Club was another confirmed location.
Filming those race sequences was a serious technical operation. Here is a quick look at what the production built to pull it off:
| Production Element | Detail |
|---|---|
| Filming rig | A floating camera barge large enough to carry the full crew and equipment |
| Boat length | Each racing shell was 67 feet long |
| Maximum boats on water simultaneously | Five boats during regatta scenes |
| Historic milestone | First Canadian production to film eight-person rowing sequences at this scale |
| Additional technique | Drone photography for wide shots when cast rowed independently |
Sam Braun, who plays Josh Regis, described the process: the performance had to be finessed with some movie magic to make it look like they were ripping through the water. The drone sequences, he said, were where things really came alive.
Sidney, British Columbia
If Hatley Castle gives Eagle’s Cove its prestige, Sidney gives it its soul.
Sidney, BC is a seaside community about 30 minutes north of Victoria. Its independent shops, marina, ocean views across the Salish Sea, and relaxed waterfront character made it a convincing stand-in for a small New England coastal town.
Several specific Sidney locations appeared in the series:
| Sidney Location | Scene / Role in the Show |
|---|---|
| Port Sidney Marina | Dock party scene in Episode 1; also seen in Episode 8 |
| Nest & Nook (boutique housewares store) | Seen in street-level Eagle’s Cove scenes |
| Quality Brake & Muffler | Background local business scenes |
Sidney looks much the same whether cameras are rolling or not. That makes it one of the most accessible filming locations to explore on your own.
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Brentwood Bay, Saanich Peninsula in British Columbia
One of Eagle’s Cove’s most memorable local spots in the show is the Crab Shack. In real life, it is a Brentwood Bay institution.
Seahorses Cafe in Brentwood Bay, located about 20 minutes north of Victoria, stood in as the Crab Shack. The restaurant has been family-operated for roughly 30 years and serves pub fare including burgers, tacos, and fries. Its waterfront position made it a natural fit. Wildlife sightings at the cafe reportedly include seals, jellyfish, and a blue heron named Phillis.
Brentwood Bay is a small, quiet community with a working marina. It does not usually appear on Vancouver Island tourist itineraries. Crew Girl has put it firmly on the map.
North Saanich, British Columbia
Several scenes moved to North Saanich, a municipality just north of Victoria. Confirmed locations there include:
| North Saanich Location | What It Is |
|---|---|
| BC Aviation Museum | Museum with 40 full-sized aircraft, flight simulators, and radio equipment |
| Fickle Fig Farm Market | Local farm market |
| North Saanich Freeride Park | Outdoor recreation area |
The BC Aviation Museum was established in the 1980s and is open to the public. Its appearance in Crew Girl is a good reminder of how broadly the production spread across Vancouver Island to build out Eagle’s Cove’s world.
Victoria City Spots: Hotel, Winery, and Fitness Centre
Beyond the waterways, several Victoria city locations also appear in the series. Netflix confirmed the following spots as filming locations through its Netflix in Your Neighbourhood campaign:
| Victoria Location | What It Is |
|---|---|
| Parkside Hotel & Spa | Full-service hotel in downtown Victoria |
| Church & State Winery | Winery with tasting rooms |
| PISE Fitness Centre | Pacific Institute for Sport Education, a non-profit sports facility |
| Point Hope Maritime | Active working shipyard (not open to the public for general visits) |
One note on Point Hope Maritime: it is a working shipyard, not a tourist attraction. It has hosted public open-house events, but you should not show up expecting to walk through it on a regular day.
Is Eagle’s Cove a Real Town?
No. Eagle’s Cove is entirely fictional. The show places it somewhere on the Massachusetts coast, but no such town exists. Sidney, BC and the broader Greater Victoria area were used to create it on screen.
Is Easton Prep a Real School?
No. Easton Prep is fictional. Hatley Castle at Royal Roads University in Colwood, BC, is the real building used for all exterior and interior Easton Prep scenes.
Can You Visit the Crew Girl Filming Locations?
Yes, most of them are open for everyone. Hatley Park’s formal gardens are free and open daily. Elk/Beaver Lake Regional Park is a public regional park. The Gorge Waterway and Selkirk Waterfront are publicly accessible. Sidney’s marina and waterfront shops are open to visitors. Point Hope Maritime is a working shipyard and is generally not open to the public.
Full Cast of Crew Girl
The show works as well as it does partly because the cast had genuine chemistry before filming even started. Sam Braun, who plays Josh, said in interviews that the cast knew each other beforehand, and that the on-screen connection viewers feel was very real on set.
Here is a full look at the main cast:
| Actor | Character |
|---|---|
| Miku Martineau | Teagan Tao (lead) |
| Jessica Paré | Ella Emerson-Tao (Teagan’s mother) |
| Sam Braun | Josh Regis (team captain) |
| Kyle Clark | Cam Dillinger (rival/love interest) |
| Thomas Cadrot | Coach Matt Hayden |
| Olga Petsa | Juliet Morny (Teagan’s friend) |
| Riley Davis | Noah Bainbridge |
| Connor Wong | Perry Chou |
| Jude Wilson | Supporting cast |
| Connor Paton | Supporting cast |
| Vincent Muller | Damon Quaid |
| Niall Matter | Supporting cast |
| Byron Lawson | David Tao (Teagan’s father) |
Miku Martineau is a Canadian actress born in Toronto in 2004, of Japanese and Canadian descent. She leads the show as Teagan and also appeared in Netflix’s Bet in 2025. Before Crew Girl, she had apparently avoided the rowing machine at the gym because, in her own words, it felt like she was doing it wrong. Eight weeks of intensive training later, she was leading eight-person regatta sequences on the Gorge Waterway.
The show was created by Vivian Lin and Morwyn Brebner. Lin serves as showrunner and executive producer. Simon Barry and his wife Jacquie Gould directed the first two episodes. Other directors for the season include Norman Buckley and Amanda Tapping.
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Behind the Scenes
The rowing sequences in Crew Girl are the show’s biggest technical achievement. The production built a floating camera barge large enough to carry the full camera crew alongside a 67-foot racing shell. Up to five boats sat on the water at the same time during regatta scenes.
It became the first Canadian production to film eight-person rowing sequences at this scale. That is not a small thing in the world of sports TV production.
But before any of that could happen, the actors trained. Olympic gold-medal-winning coxswain Terry Paul personally coached the cast during pre-production. The cast went from knowing almost nothing about the sport to performing in full regatta sequences on open water. That training also doubled as team bonding. Multiple cast members have mentioned that the water scenes brought them closer together.
The rest of the world around Easton Prep was built by turning Greater Victoria into coastal Massachusetts. Showrunner Vivian Lin noted in interviews that the daily commute through the island’s scenery was its own reward. Driving into work each day, she said, was stunningly beautiful.
Production was run by Great Pacific Media and Blue Ant Studios, with Lin, Matthew Hornburg, Mark J.W. Bishop, Jennifer McCarron, Donna Luke, and Michael MacMillan among the executive producers.
Where to watch Crew Girl?
Crew Girl is a Netflix Original series. All eight episodes of Season 1 are available to stream on Netflix right now. The series carries a TV-14 rating and each episode runs between 40 and 45 minutes.
The show has already been renewed for Season 2 after reaching number one on Netflix’s global TV chart in its first week. A premiere date for Season 2 has not been confirmed yet.
| Platform | Availability |
|---|---|
| Netflix | All 8 episodes streaming now |
| Other streaming services | Not available |
| Free-to-air TV | Not available |
Netflix is the only place to watch Crew Girl. A subscription is required.
Crew Girl Reviews & Ratings
The reviews landed in a pretty predictable place for a teen sports drama. Critics found things to respect. They also found things that sank the show.
Variety called the show pretty to look at, but noted that its lack of realism, choppy dialogue, and monotonous themes work against it. The review acknowledged that casting Miku Martineau, a Japanese Canadian actress, as the lead was a meaningful step in a genre that rarely centres people of colour.
The Hollywood Reporter described it as bingeable enough for fans of the YA genre, noting that it checks all the expected marks: rich mean kids, family feuds, a love triangle, and pretty lake shots. But the review pointed out that subplots outside the rowing world, including Jessica Pare’s storyline as Ella, get sidelined or ignored.
Collider offered perhaps the most pointed take, suggesting that the boathouse is the only place Crew Girl fully works. The rowing scenes, the review said, are the surprise. Everything else, from the stiff dialogue to the underdeveloped supporting cast, lets the show down.
Rotten Tomatoes critics consensus compared the show to a racing shell on a calm lake: smooth, but not leaving many ripples.
Audience reception has been warmer. On social media, viewers have called it wholesome, easy to binge, and a solid weekend watch. The love triangle between Teagan, Josh, and Cam drew plenty of engagement, and the rowing sequences earned consistent praise even from people who had no prior interest in the sport.
The short version: if you want a polished, pumpkin-spiced teen drama that looks great on screen and delivers rowing action you did not expect to find compelling, Crew Girl delivers. If you want sharp writing and complex characters, you may find yourself wanting more.
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