Are you one of the many that binged the evocative Netflix mini-series Maid since it debuted earlier this fall? The 10-episode limited series, loosely based on a memoir of the same name, is set in Washington state, however, the production spent several months in beautiful British Columbia in 2020 and 2021, since most of the filming was done on southern Vancouver Island, in and around Victoria.
While there is an area in Washington known as Fisher Island, it's thought that the fictional community in Maid was modelled after Whidbey Island, and the equally fictional Port Hampstead represented Port Townsend.
Keen-eyed B.C. residents will have certainly spied handily that main character Alex (Margaret Qualley) spent a lot of her time aboard the ferry and waiting at the terminal - and of course, those were BC Ferries on the Island - in fact, according to the new Netflix map, those scenes were shot at the Swartz Bay ferry terminal, a familiar sight for anyone who travels between Metro Vancouver and Victoria by ferry. The Fisher Island ferry terminal, however, was on Salt Spring Island, which doesn't make it onto the Netflix map.
Other key locations include the laundromat that doubled as the Value Maids HQ, which is in real life Tillicum Laundry at 3472 Tillicum Road and is Victoria's oldest laundromat, and Regina's posh modern waterfront mansion that Alex visited often for work, which is in Victoria's Ten Mile Point area. The bar where Alex and Sean met used The Duke Saloon, he worked at The Swan (a closed-down Victoria spot called The Guild), and that stunning cabin on the water where Alex lived for a hot minute and held Maddy's birthday party is located in Sooke.
All told, there are dozens of locations from Maid plotted out on the Netflix map, which means the next time you are roaming around Victoria and neighbouring communities, you can see where the show took place.
Netflix launched its "Netflix in Your Neighbourhood" interactive maps and guides back in September 2021, and thanks to Vancouver and B.C. serving as "Hollywood North" for so many of the streamer's productions, there are many locations in our own backyard.
