The former Kingston Penitentiary has made an appearance in a recent episode of the DC Universe superhero series Titans, portraying the fictional ‘Kane County Correctional Facility’. As announced this past summer, filming at the penitentiary took place in August following a casting call for local men to be hired as background actors / convicts for the shoot.
Note: This article contains minor spoilers for those who haven’t seen episode 9 or 10 in season 2.
The historic landmark can be seen early in the show, with a prisoner transport van carrying Dick Grayson (actor Brenton Thwaites) – Batman’s former sidekick, Robin, and future Nightwing – into the Kane County Correctional Facility – likely named as a nod to Batman co-creator, Bob Kane. (screencap above)
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The shot was made from the southwest corner of the penitentiary looking east, and locals will notice right away that some digital SFX was used to show hills and mountains in the distance, whereas the actual view at the lake-side penitentiary is very different (Google image below).
Along with interior scenes, most of the filming took place outside in the southern-most section of the penitentiary – again at the gate area and where fencing appears to have been setup to create a prisoner compound, seen in the screen captures below (camera looking west in first two screencaps and east in the third):
The penitentiary can only be seen fleetingly in the new, just-aired episode that follows this one, so it’s unsure whether KP will appear in any of the remaining shows in season 2.
In recent years Kingston Penitentiary appeared in season 4 of The Amazing Race Canada, the Netflix/CBC mini-series Alias Grace, and will appear on the top-rated CBC show Murdoch Mysteries in a future episode, likely airing in February 2020.
Filmed in Toronto, DC Universe’s Titans can be viewed in Canada on Netflix – although only season one is currently available there. Based on when that season arrived, this episode featuring the Kingston Pen and all of season two should be accessible in December or January for Canadian fans.
FYI, during warmer months, you can take a tour of the historic Kingston Penitentiary – details at KingstonPenTour.com or on Twitter @KingstonPenTour
Learn more about DC Universe’s Titans at its Facebook page and on Twitter.
