Four years after its finale, Suits is breaking streaming records: becoming the most-viewed acquired series in a single week, according to Nielsen data, and ascending Netflix’s Top 10 chart upon joining the streamer this June. So if you’re one of the many watching (or rewatching) Suits this summer, you’re not alone! But with the streaming success comes renewed interest in the making of Suits — and there’s one resurfaced behind-the-scenes clip that may transform the way you watch the show.
On July 8, TikTok user @suitscomedy shared part of a 2016 set tour in which Sarah Rafferty (who played Donna) opens up about where the show’s law firm is really located. “I have actually Instagrammed this, and people have been upset, like, ‘You’re ruining it for me!’ ... but basically, New York City is a gigantic shower curtain,” Rafferty says in the clip, guiding viewers to a flexible, tarp-like backdrop of the city skyline surrounding an office set. “How awesome is that?”
Not that awesome, according to some viewers in the comments. “Just started watching this and now I won’t be able to see it the same after 💀,” wrote one user; “My life is a lie,” chimed in another.
As several other commenters noted, though, it’s not unusual for a show to employ some TV magic to make a set look like real life. (After all, not every show can be Succession, whose Waystar office scenes were shot in the actual World Trade Center, per Condé Nast Traveler.) The bigger behind-the-scenes surprise might be the fact that Suits’ outdoor walk-and-talk scenes — the ones you definitely couldn’t fake with a shower curtain — were filmed in Toronto, not New York. Actually, after filming the pilot in the Big Apple, Suits moved production to the Canadian city to take advantage of local tax breaks, according to USA.
Gabriel Macht, who played Harvey, told The Hollywood Reporter in 2011 that while he understood “outsourcing,” he would have enjoyed filming where the show actually took place. “I really believe that when you’re walking in New York City, the people walking around, the extras, there’s a different take, a different sensibility.”
Canadian viewers could tell the difference, too. Paul Taunton wrote for the National Post that Toronto restaurants, cabs, and even a city bus could be seen in the background of the show. “With apologies to the offerings from Canadian networks, Suits may be the most Toronto show ever,” Tanton wrote in 2016.
