Lifetime’s latest thriller The Copycat Killer takes viewers into a dark world of serial killers, criminal profiling, and copycat murder. From the opening scenes to the tense investigation, the movie was filmed entirely in one Canadian city. Starring Melissa O’Neil as Eleanor, the film is about a profiler who thought she’d put her worst case behind her. However, someone is replicating the signature style of the same criminal that Ellie once helped catch. Here’s everything we know about where The Copycat Killer was shot and when production took place.
The Copycat Killer Filming Locations
The Copycat Killer was filmed in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Production was registered with ACTRA Ottawa, with principal photography taking place from May 25 to June 5, 2026. That means the movie was filmed in a relatively tight 12-day production window.
| Title | The Copycat Killer |
| Network | Lifetime |
| Premiere | Saturday, August 29, 2026 at 8/7c |
| Filming Location | Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |
| Production Dates | May 25 – June 5, 2026 |
| Production Company | NBFSS Films 2025 Inc. / Vortex Media |
| Rating | TV-14 |
Ottawa makes an interesting backdrop for the story because the city can shift between polished urban settings and quiet residential streets without requiring the production to travel far. That flexibility is particularly useful for a thriller centered on a criminal profiler and a series of murders that appear to recreate the work of a notorious killer.
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Ottawa looks like a lot of places at once. Walk three blocks and you go from stone government buildings that could pass for 19th-century Boston to quiet residential streets indistinguishable from suburban Ohio.
There are university campuses, canal-side paths, covered markets, and old-money neighbourhoods all within reach of each other. For a story about a true crime conference that turns deadly, you need a city that can feel prestigious and claustrophobic in the same shot. Ottawa delivers that.
The production company was NBFSS Films 2025 Inc., operating under Vortex Media. It ran as a CIPIP production, meaning it qualified for Canadian independent production incentives. That’s the financial reason Ottawa keeps attracting this kind of project. But the creative reason is just as strong.
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ByWard Market
ByWard Market is probably the most-filmed corner of Ottawa, and for good reason. It’s compact, visually dense, and has this energy that can read as either charming or menacing depending on the time of day and how the DP lights it. Victorian-era storefronts, narrow side streets, the buzz of foot traffic, it’s the kind of neighbourhood that turns up in crime productions constantly because it looks lived-in rather than dressed.
While specific scenes have not been officially confirmed as having been filmed at ByWard Market, the area is a natural fit for a production like this. Its mix of older architecture and busy street life can easily take on a darker tone when photographed for a crime thriller. The available production information does not identify individual scenes or confirm ByWard Market as a specific filming site.
Conference and University Venues
A major part of the story revolves around a true crime conference, making conference halls and institutional settings an important part of the movie’s world. Ottawa actually has good options for this.
The Shaw Centre downtown is the kind of polished, glass-and-concrete venue that reads as exactly the sort of place a true crime author might be invited to speak. Carleton University and the University of Ottawa both have grand lecture halls and conference spaces that production teams in the city have used before for similar setups.
Glebe, Centretown, and Westboro Neighbourhoods
Ottawa’s residential neighbourhoods also provide the kind of everyday surroundings that work well in a psychological thriller. Areas such as the Glebe, Centretown, and Westboro feature tree-lined streets and older homes that can create a sharp contrast with the violence unfolding in the story.
Again, these neighbourhoods should be treated as likely or representative Ottawa settings rather than confirmed individual filming locations. The available production information discusses them as suitable areas for the film’s residential atmosphere but does not provide an official scene-by-scene location list.
Some of the popular holiday movies that were shot in Ottawa includes:
- Yes Chef Christmas
- Laughing all the way
- Stalked by a Prince
- Maps and Mistletoe
- A Christmas Village Romance
Behind the Scenes
The production was put together by NBFSS Films 2025 Inc. and distributed by Vortex Media, which has a solid track record moving genre and thriller content through the Canadian independent system. The CIPIP classification means the film used local Ottawa crews and talent rather than importing from Toronto or Vancouver, which matters both for the tax incentives and for the practicality of a 12-day shoot.
Twelve days is genuinely not much time. That kind of schedule doesn’t leave room for scouting alternative locations or doing things twice. Every Ottawa location in this film was picked specifically because it worked, not because it was convenient. The Ottawa Film Office has spent years building a searchable database of film-friendly locations across the city, and productions like this rely heavily on that groundwork.
The city’s growing crew base also helps. A decade ago, a production shooting in Ottawa might have had to bring in most of its below-the-line team from Toronto. Now the talent pool is deep enough that it largely doesn’t have to.
What is the movie about?
The Copycat Killer follows Dr. Eleanor Douglas, a criminal profiler who went off the grid after her most high-profile case of capturing the Sigil Slayer. She nearly didn’t survive the process. Now she keeps her head down.
But when she reluctantly returns to the spotlight at a true-crime conference, her past suddenly comes back to haunt her. A fan is found murdered in the exact same signature style used by the notorious Sigil Slayer, the serial killer Ellie once helped catch.
The terrifying question is: who is copying the Sigil Slayer’s murders, and why? As the investigation unfolds, Ellie is forced to revisit the case that nearly destroyed her life. Her only chance of understanding the new killer may be a chilling face-to-face encounter with the original murderer, who is already behind bars. Either way, Ellie is suddenly the only person who might understand what’s happening. And she’s going to have to talk to the original killer to find out.
It’s a premise with a long lineage, the 1995 film Copycat put Sigourney Weaver in essentially the same position, playing a criminal psychologist forced back into the game after being targeted by a serial killer who copies others. Lifetime’s version gives the formula a fresh cast and an Ottawa winter palette.
Cast of The Copycat Killer
| Actor | Role |
| Melissa O’Neil | Dr. Eleanor “Ellie” Douglas |
| Greyston Holt | Julian Duffy |
| Peter Facinelli | Glenn Boyd |
| Alexandra Castillo | Detective Lisa Deloria |
| Karen Knox | Vale Talbot |
Melissa O’Neil as Dr. Eleanor Douglas
Most people know Melissa O’Neil from seven seasons as Lucy Chen on The Rookie. She’s also a Canadian Idol winner (2005) and has been building a quiet reputation for picking projects with some actual weight to them.
Playing a profiler with PTSD and a past that won’t stay buried is a real departure from Lucy Chen, and from the trailer at least, she handles it well. There’s an exhaustion to the character that feels considered rather than performed.
She’s also Canadian, which makes the Ottawa shoot a bit of a homecoming in a way.
Greyston Holt as Julian Duffy
Greyston Holt spent four seasons playing Clay Danvers in Bitten, the werewolf thriller that ran on Space/Syfy. He’s been in Chesapeake Shores and a handful of Lifetime productions before this. He knows this format and he’s comfortable in it.
Peter Facinelli as Glenn Boyd
Twilight fans know him as Carlisle Cullen. Medical drama fans know him as the charismatic and morally flexible Dr. Fitch Cooper from Nurse Jackie. Glenn Boyd doesn’t have a publicly confirmed description yet, but Facinelli gravitates toward roles where the surface charm is doing a lot of work. That’s probably not an accident here.
Alexandra Castillo as Detective Lisa Deloria
Castillo came to wider attention through The Expanse and has been steadily building her screen presence in Canadian productions. Detective Deloria is on the investigative side of the story, working the new murder case while Ellie works the psychological angle.
Where to watch The Copycat Killer?
The Copycat Killer streams exclusively on Lifetime channel and Lifetime app.
| Platform | Details |
| Lifetime (cable/satellite) | August 29, 2026 at 8/7c – the premiere |
| mylifetime.com / Lifetime app | Available to stream the day after premiere |
| Philo | Lifetime is included in the base package |
| Sling TV | Available on Sling Blue and some add-on packages |
| Frndly TV | Lifetime included, one of the cheaper streaming options |
| Amazon Prime Video | Lifetime available as a channel add-on |
| Apple TV | Lifetime available as a channel add-on |
If you miss Saturday’s premiere, the Lifetime app is your quickest route to catching up. Lifetime typically keeps its movies available for a while after they air.
Is The Copycat Killer based on a true story?
No, the copycat killer is a fictional story, all characters are made up. Lifetime movies sometimes blur that line (they’ve done plenty of true-crime adaptations), but this one is original.
That said, the premise isn’t purely invented. Profilers being psychologically devastated by high-profile serial killer cases is well-documented. Criminals replicating the methods of other killers, both as homage and as deliberate misdirection has happened in reality. The film just builds a fictional story on top of that real psychological terrain.
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