Naman Shrestha
Based on the infamous and controversial Stanford Prison Experiment conducted by Philip Zimbardo in August 1971, Netflix’s ‘The New Stanford Prison Experiment’ is the modern reimagining of the social experiment that brings together 30 people from different walks of life as they are sent to a real-life prison facility. While in a simulated prison environment for two weeks, 8 participants are randomly assigned as guards, split between day and night shift teams, and the remaining 22 are prisoners.
As they fulfill their assigned responsibilities, the volunteers find themselves torn between their desire to play their respective roles and their empathy for others, complicating the power dynamics within the prison. Meanwhile, their behaviors are studied by a panel of three experts — Alison Wood Brooks, Trymaine Lee, and Michael Cantrell. The reality show is set within the walls of a real prison facility, with its cells, yard, and other spaces testing each participant’s individuality.
The New Stanford Prison Experiment Filming Locations
‘The New Stanford Prison Experiment’ is filmed in Georgia, particularly in Cherokee County. As per reports, principal photography for the inaugural iteration of the reality show commenced in November 2025 and went on for a couple of weeks before wrapping up within the same month. One of the participants, Lucas Forrester, shared a few words about his experience on the set of the social experiment, stating, “I’ve had to keep this one quiet for almost a year, and I still can’t say much about what happened or my experience just yet… but I’m definitely looking forward to talking about it once the show drops. Until then, just know this was one hell of an experience.”
Cherokee County, Georgia
The production team of ‘The New Stanford Prison Experiment’ utilized the premises of a decommissioned section of the Cherokee County Adult Detention Center at 498 Chattin Drive in the city of Canton. The fully functional prison facility consists of more than 500 beds for inmates, a laundry area, food preparation areas, and an arraignment courtroom. In an interview with Tudum, executive producer Jane Lipsitz explained, “We felt that if we were going to revisit this experiment, we needed to make the environment feel as real as possible. A real prison carries a history, an energy and a sense of confinement that you simply can’t recreate on a set. And having actual inmates there added another layer of intensity and perspective — a constant reminder that, outside the experiment, these roles and power dynamics have very real consequences.”
The cast and crew reportedly filmed 24 hours a day, with plenty of unexpected and uncomfortable drama unfolding within the prison’s walls. “Unscripted felt like the only way to explore this — and in some ways, the Stanford Prison Experiment was the forebear of the social experiments that unscripted television is based on. Place real people into a complicated and constructed environment, and document what happens,” she added. In order to keep the interaction between the crew members and the participants minimal, they used robocams inside the prison. Furthermore, the volunteers were interviewed for the show in such a way that they couldn’t see the interviewer.
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