Budapest became Zurich: Here's where Apple TV+'s 12 12 12 was filmed
12 12 12
A bank vault buried deep beneath the streets of Zurich. Twelve months to plan it. Twelve hours to execute it. Twelve days to survive the aftermath. 12 12 12 – the eight-episode Apple TV+ heist drama starring Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan – was filmed between May and October 2025 across Budapest, Sopron, Austin, Texas and the Croatian coast.
The series follows a disgraced FBI agent – Mackie – and a seasoned American career criminal – Dornan – in a high-stakes cat-and-mouse game across Europe, centred on a seemingly impossible heist targeting a heavily fortified vault beneath Zurich. The structure mirrors the title: each episode weaves three timelines – the 12 months of planning, the 12 hours of execution and the 12 days after.
Created by Dudi Appleton and Jim Keeble (Silent Witness, Wild Bill), directed by Emmy-nominated BAFTA winner Kari Skogland (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier), and produced by Anonymous Content and Paramount Television Studios. The cast also includes Jack Kesy, Agathe Rousselle, Sallie Harmsen, José Garcia, Kali Reis and Ólafur Darri Ólafsson.
Principal photography began on May 12, 2025, in Budapest, Hungary. The production transformed St. Stephen's Basilica and its surrounding square into a festive winter landscape – complete with artificial snow, a large Christmas tree and extensive holiday decorations – for scenes set during the Christmas season. TikTok users and local fans spotted Mackie in front of the Basilica as the winter scene was being filmed.
Dornan had shot similar holiday scenes in Budapest's 6th district earlier, near Andrássy Avenue, where streets were dressed in Christmas ornaments and artificial snow to match the festive heist backdrop.
The production spread across multiple specific Budapest locations. Keleti Railway Station – the monumental 19th-century terminus in the 8th district – featured in an intense chase sequence with Mackie running through its grand interior. Streets in the Terézváros neighbourhood around Andrássy Avenue and the 6th district were dressed for the winter setting. Jamie Dornan was spotted filming exterior scenes near the Semmelweis University campus. Additional transit station locations around the capital were used for cat-and-mouse chase sequences.
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Production also filmed in Sopron – the historic Hungarian city near the Austrian border, whose well-preserved Baroque old town and medieval street plan. Confirmed filming locations in Croatia include the Amadria Park Hotel Milenij on Ul. Marsala Tita 109 in Opatija, the coastal resort town on the Kvarner Gulf whose Belle Époque architecture and Adriatic setting give it an immediately identifiable Riviera glamour. Hotel and interior scenes were filmed here, with street scenes captured in nearby Volosko – the small fishing village immediately east of Opatija. The rooftop of the Tower Center in Rijeka – the regional capital's modern shopping complex – was also used as a filming location.
Production filmed in Austin, Texas, providing the American dimension of the story. Mackie's disgraced FBI agent has a history on American soil before the European chase begins, and Austin's urban environments and federal building architecture provided the US-set sequences. We cannot yet confirm specific locations.
12 12 12 premiered on Apple TV+ on November 13, 2026. Two episodes simultaneously. Then weekly through Christmas Day – the appropriate end date for a heist series that filmed a Christmas scene in Budapest in June.
SOURCE
Apple Insider / Wikipedia // Budapest Reporter // Daily News Hungary // IMDb
CREDITS
© Apple TV+, Paramount Television Studios, Pioneer Stillking Films, Skydance Television
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