For those who live in a bustling city, a fun way to spend your day off could be trying to track down filming locations. There’s more big-budget productions than you may think right in your own backyard. Chicago residents particularly enjoy trying to find where popular HBO Max show The Bear is shooting its third season. With the episodes set to release later this week, on June 27, I want to give readers a rundown on some of the confirmed filming locations for this next season, and my predictions on what scenes could possibly be happening in them.
Ukrainian Village
The Ukrainian Village in Chicago contains one of the largest Ukrainian populations in the United States. While the neighborhood is full of plenty of traditional Ukrainian museums and restaurants, it also seems to be the home of Cousin Richie. On March 7, his actor, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Matty Matheson, the actor for The Bear’s handyman, Fak, were spotted at an apartment on the corner of Hoyne Avenue and Cortez Street.
Presumably this is Richie’s apartment, and this dynamic duo may be trying to figure out yet another technical issue for their restaurant. This scene could also explore more of Richie’s character development, which season 2 also gave us some great insight into.
West Loop
West Loop is a very trendy neighborhood in Chicago, known for its nightlife. Star of The Bear, Jeremy Allen White, was seen there on March 9, filming in the restaurant that was previously Aikana. In such a hip area, we could be seeing more of Carmy’s past restaurant experience. However, as a filming poster showed, there was reportedly even more filming in West Loop over that weekend under the code name “KUBELIK” the show uses on its permits. Perhaps this could be a restaurant tour for Carmy, in the style of the one he was supposed to go on with Sydney in season 2.
Lincoln Park
This location has less details than some of the others, but permits were filed to film in Lincoln Park during the first week of March. While the specifics of filming haven’t been caught by the public, it seems like a familiar location could be revisited. In season 2, Richie brought back a deep-dish pizza from Pequod’s Pizza to appease tourists. Pequod’s is very close to Southport Avenue between Belden and Webster avenues, as well as Shakespeare between Throop Street and Southport Avenue. While we didn’t see Richie enter Pequod’s in the previous season, season 3 may give us a glimpse of this classic Chicago spot!
Armour Square/Bridgeport
One of the more in-depth reports we have, this next location will give Chef Marcus a chance to shine. The resident baker in The Bear’s kitchen, season 2 established that his mother was incredibly sick and in the hospital. The permits booked in these residential neighborhoods were described as “Marcus Driving Scene” and “Marcus’ Mom’s House,” alluding to some scenes focused around their relationship. Lionel Boyce, Marcus’ actor, was spotted in the area, along with fellow chef, Tina, played by Liza Colón-Zayas.
While hopefully these scenes mean a miraculous recovery for Marcus’ mom, the next location and accompanying pictures point towards a more devastating outcome.
Evanston
Evanston is a quiet, simple neighborhood. Many different scenes could be shot there, possibly showing the homes of some other characters, or even exploring some more niche dining spots. What the town is also home to, however, is Saint Mary’s Catholic Church. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the whole cast was seen in all-black outside its doors. Some who are much more optimistic than me theorize a wedding, although this seems unlikely due to the amount of the cast in the included picture.
Unfortunately, I believe this to be Marcus’ mom’s funeral. This is the direction the show was going in, after seeing Marcus’ development overseas and his learning to do things for himself, rather than putting all his energy into those around him. Only time will tell, though, and I look forward to this next season to challenge all my theories!