Standing near the heart of Scotland’s largest city, Glasgow Cathedral is the only medieval cathedral on the Scottish mainland to have survived the Protestant Reformation of 1560 virtually intact.

The cathedral, which has witnessed countless pivotal moments in Scotland's narrative, welcomes over 450,000 visitors a year, enjoying worldwide appeal while also being a local parish church.

As a filming location, it has also been used for scenes in movies and TV shows such as The Princess Switch: Switched Again, Outlaw King, The Batman, and Outlander.

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Now the medieval cathedral looks set to captivate further interest and attract fresh tourist appeal by providing an authentic backdrop for a forthcoming Hollywood blockbuster production.

The awe-inspiring building dedicated to St Kentigern will play host to filming for Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro's reboot of Mary Shelley’s beloved novel Frankenstein for Netflix, our sister title The Herald can exclusively reveal.

The Mexican filmmaker is writing and directing the film, which is being developed under the working title of Prodigal Father.

At the centre of Frankenstein are Jacob Elordi (Saltburn, Priscilla), Oscar Isaac (Ex Machina, Inside Llewyn Davis), and Mia Goth (X, Emma). Joining that main trio are Felix Kammerer (All Quiet on the Western Front), Lars Mikkelsen (The Witcher, Ahsoka), Christoph Waltz (Inglorious Basterds, Django Unchained), David Bradley (Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio), and Christian Convery (Sweet Tooth). 

Principal photography began in February in Toronto and is expected to wrap later this summer.

The classic Mary Shelley novel follows Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant but egotistical scientist who brings a creature to life in a monstrous experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation.

What’s On Netflix has reported that del Toro's Frankenstein will be “set in Eastern Europe in the 19th Century, the story of Dr. Pretorious, who needs to track down Frankenstein’s monster- who is believed to have died in a fire forty years before–in order to continue the experiments of Dr. Frankenstein.”

Oscar-winning filmmaker Guillermo del ToroOscar-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro

Responding to the news, a Church of Scotland spokesman said: “Glasgow Cathedral will be used as a location for filming with Netflix later this month. The building has previously been used as a location for a number of different films.

The current Church of Scotland congregation within the Cathedral is always mindful of its importance as a sacred space to a number of Christian traditions and will ensure that all filming within the building is sensitive to its continuing role as a place of worship and spiritual reflection.

“Filming will have an impact on access to the Cathedral, but this will be well signposted on the Cathedral and Historic Environment Scotland’s websites.

“Glasgow Cathedral remains a place of pilgrimage, as well as of great historical importance as the only Scottish medieval cathedral to have survived the Reformation largely intact. As such, it attracts between 500,000 and 600,000 visitors annually, but we welcome opportunities such as this to help raise the Cathedral’s profile internationally and attract more people to share the experience of a visit to this very special place.”

A VisitScotland spokesperson added: “We know filmmakers – and film fans – love Scotland so it’s exciting that another major production is planning to shoot here. Screen tourism is a global trend in which filmgoers and TV viewers are inspired to travel to destinations they have seen on-screen. We’ve seen this in Scotland with Outlander, James Bond, and the Avengers, to name just a few. Glasgow’s amazing gothic architecture has added itself to many productions in the past and would provide the perfect backdrop to an adaptation of such a classic novel.”