VIVANT season two filming locations by episode: what is identified so far, and by whom
explainer · 8 min read
VIVANT season two premiered on TBS on 26 July 2026. This page logs, episode by episode, which scenes have been tied to which locations in Azerbaijan and who made each identification: production statements, media reporting, travel-industry labels or fan sites. Written by Birtour, a Baku-based DMC, and updated after each Sunday broadcast.
VIVANT season two premiered on TBS on 26 July 2026, in the Sunday Theater slot at 21:00 JST. This page tracks, episode by episode, which scenes have been tied to which locations in Azerbaijan, and by whom. We are Birtour, a destination management company based in Baku; the eight regions the production partner named are roads and towns we drive every season. We update this page after each Sunday broadcast. Last checked 28 July 2026, with one episode aired so far.
One ground rule first. The only location list issued by anyone who worked on the production is the eight regions that Baku Media Center, the partner that handled filming permits and logistics, named when the shoot wrapped: Baku, Sumgayit, Ganja, Nakhchivan, Shamakhi, Gabala, Sheki and Guba (reported by Report.az and Trend.az on 15 November 2025, checked by us on 28 July 2026). Every building-level identification circulating so far comes from media, travel companies or fan sites, so every row below names who made the claim. For the geography, distances and drive times of the eight regions, see the filming regions map; we will not repeat that table here.
The scale of the shoot is on the record. Masaaki Sasaki, a journalist writing as a Yahoo News expert contributor, reported on 24 July 2026 that filming ran roughly two months from August 2025 across eight locations in Azerbaijan, with the Ministry of Culture, local administration and police giving what he quotes as full support, and Baku Media Center as the local production partner.
Which locations appear in the trailers and promo material?
Travel companies and media matched several places to the released footage before the premiere. All of these are the identifying party's own labels, not production statements. As of 28 July 2026 no source has broken the opening title sequence down shot by shot; that is a gap in the coverage, not evidence the locations are elsewhere.
| Material | Location claimed | Who identified it | Region | Day on our tour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sequel announcement visual (June 2025) | Sheki Caravanserai | Fans on X, reported by BuzzFeed Japan, 11 June 2025 | Sheki | 7 |
| Season 2 announcement video | Sheki Caravanserai | Hankyu Travel, in its official-tour press release, 24 July 2026 | Sheki | 7 |
| Season 2 trailer | Baku Old City (Icherisheher) | Tabicoffret, a travel site whose writer matched the footage on the ground, 17 July 2026 | Baku | 9 |
| Special trailer | Shirvanshahs' Palace | skyticket travel guide, 8 January 2026 | Baku | 10 |
| Released production information | Candy Cane Mountains | skyticket travel guide, 8 January 2026 | Khizi district (outside the eight) | En route, day 3 |
| Key art and official SNS footage | Baku Metro | Goal.com Japan, 26 July 2026; fan blogs matched the train livery | Baku | Not a scheduled stop; walkable on days 9 and 10 |
Three notes on that table. Khizi district, where the Candy Cane Mountains stand, is not one of the eight regions Baku Media Center named; our day 3 route from Baku to Guba passes through it. Goal.com Japan's premiere-day roundup lists the Baku Metro as a filming site but explicitly hedges one Caspian coast spot as presumed. And fan blogs stretch the map further: nao-blog1224.com matched official X posts and broadcast footage against street-level imagery to propose the mountain road toward Khinalig in the Guba region (day 3 on our tour), a restaurant scene inside what it reads as the Baku Media Center building (an office, not a visitable sight), and a 12th-century fortress establishing shot whose name is garbled in the source and stays unverified; mizubuta.com flags a derelict stretch of Caspian shoreline as atmosphere-based speculation only. Read that whole paragraph as the lightest tier of evidence on this page.
The buildings themselves have their own pages: the Sheki Caravanserai, the Palace of the Shirvanshahs and the Old City, plus a practical guide to riding the Baku Metro.
Episode 1 (aired 26 July 2026)
Japanese coverage numbers this episode 11, continuing season one's count. The premiere drew an 18.8% household rating, 12.1% individual, with a peak of 19.4%, the strongest start of any commercial-network drama this summer quarter (Sponichi Annex, 27 July 2026; figures by Video Research, Kanto region). The story places the episode in Cyprus. The filming identifications point at Azerbaijan, and all three so far come from the fan location database location.la.coocan.jp, which publishes coordinates with each entry.
| Scene | Location claimed | Who identified it | Region | Day on our tour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interior of the fictional "Cyprus International Airport", where Nogi shops for souvenirs | Heydar Aliyev International Airport | location.la.coocan.jp (with coordinates); journalist Masaaki Sasaki independently wrote "probably" the same airport, 27 July 2026 | Baku | 2 and 10 (arrival and departure) |
| The road the bus carrying Nogi and Drum travels | Caspian coastal road north of Baku | location.la.coocan.jp (with coordinates) | Near Sumgayit | 3 |
| Where Nogi and Drum capture Ali | Sumgayit | location.la.coocan.jp (with coordinates) | Sumgayit | 3 |
| Every other scene | Not yet identified (as of 28 July 2026) | n/a | n/a | n/a |
The airport row deserves its footnote. Sasaki's 27 July article points out that no "Cyprus International Airport" exists, reads the "Cyprus Souvenirs" shop sign as likely CGI, notes Turkish dialogue in the scene, and concludes the terminal is "probably" Heydar Aliyev International. That is a labeled inference arriving at the same answer as the fan database's coordinates, and neither is a production confirmation.
No other episode 1 scene had a published identification when we checked on 28 July 2026. We would rather leave the row empty than guess; next week's update adds what the sources establish.
Episode 2 (airs 2 August 2026)
Episode 2, series episode 12, airs Sunday 2 August 2026 at 21:00 JST on TBS (Oricon, checked by us on 28 July 2026). TBS has announced a two-cour continuous run, unusual for the Sunday Theater slot, but no primary source states an end month (Walkerplus, 7 April 2026). This section will be filled after the broadcast.
What counts as an identified location here?
We rank the sources. At the top sits the production side's own statement, and there is exactly one: the eight-region list. Next comes TBS's released material itself, the trailers, announcement videos and official SNS footage. Below that, media reporting that matched footage to the ground (Yahoo News expert articles, BuzzFeed Japan, Goal.com Japan). Below that again, the location labels travel companies attach to their own itineraries and articles (Hankyu Travel, Tabicoffret, skyticket). At the bottom, frame-by-frame matching by fan sites. The "who identified it" column exists so you can see which rung each claim stands on. Who has published what, and on whose authority, is laid out on our VIVANT in Azerbaijan page; the geography lives on the filming regions map.
Can you actually visit these places?
Hankyu Travel's TBS-sanctioned official tour went on sale on 25 July 2026: six days from Haneda on Turkish Airlines, from 279,000 yen per person, visiting Baku, Sheki, Shamakhi and Gobustan across eleven departures from 30 November 2026 to 27 October 2027 (PR TIMES, 24 July 2026, checked by us on 28 July 2026). It is a tidy package with flights included; it reaches three of the eight regions.
Birtour's ten-day tour is the only one that covers all eight regions Baku Media Center named. Ground services are published from 1,078 USD per person; the tour page has the day-by-day route and the cost guide shows how the price moves with group size.
If you are following the broadcasts and planning a trip around the places that actually appear, keep this page open next to the ten-day itinerary. The "day on our tour" column in each table is there for exactly that.
Disclosure
Birtour is not affiliated with TBS, with the VIVANT production committee, or with the travel companies selling packaged VIVANT departures. We are a destination management company based in Baku. We did not work on the production.
Sources for this page, all checked by us on 28 July 2026:
- Baku Media Center's eight-region statement, reported by Report.az and Trend.az, 15 November 2025
- Sponichi Annex on the premiere ratings, 27 July 2026
- Oricon News on the premiere date and key visual, and Oricon's streaming-lineup explainer, July 2026
- Walkerplus on the two-cour continuous run, 7 April 2026
- Masaaki Sasaki's two Yahoo News expert articles, 24 and 27 July 2026
- The fan location database location.la.coocan.jp, VIVANT season 2 page
- BuzzFeed Japan on the June 2025 announcement visual, 11 June 2025
- Tabicoffret (17 July 2026, updated 27 July), skyticket (8 January 2026), Goal.com Japan (26 July 2026)
- Hankyu Travel's official-tour press release on PR TIMES, 24 July 2026, and its ET391T product page
- Shukan Josei, issue dated 11 February 2025, cited only as the unverified origin of the theatrical-film rumor
Ratings, streaming availability and third-party tour prices are those companies' published figures, not ours.
- Where was episode 1 of VIVANT season 2 filmed?
- Three scenes have been pinned so far, all by the Japanese fan location database location.la.coocan.jp: the fictional Cyprus International Airport interior at Heydar Aliyev International Airport in Baku, the bus road on the Caspian coast north of Baku, and the capture of Ali in Sumgayit. Journalist Masaaki Sasaki independently called the airport identification probable. None are production statements.
- When does the next episode of VIVANT season 2 air?
- Episode 2, numbered episode 12 in the continuing series count, airs Sunday 2 August 2026 at 21:00 JST on TBS. The season holds the Sunday Theater slot weekly, and TBS has announced an unusual two-cour continuous run. Streaming is on U-NEXT, with catch-up on TVer and TBS FREE, checked by us on 28 July 2026.
- Can you visit the VIVANT filming locations on your own?
- The Baku sites are walkable: the Old City, the Shirvanshahs' Palace and the metro sit within one district. Sheki is 300 km and four to four and a half hours by road, so it needs an overnight. Nakhchivan has no road connection and is reached only by domestic flight. Distances for all eight regions are on our filming regions map.
- Has TBS officially confirmed the VIVANT season 2 filming locations?
- One production-sourced list exists. Baku Media Center, the production partner for permits and logistics, named eight regions when filming wrapped in November 2025: Baku, Sumgayit, Ganja, Nakhchivan, Shamakhi, Gabala, Sheki and Guba. It names regions, not buildings. Every building-level identification so far comes from media, travel companies or fan sites, and this page attributes each one.
- Is there an official VIVANT filming locations tour?
- Yes. Hankyu Travel launched a TBS-sanctioned official tour on 25 July 2026: six days from Haneda, from 279,000 yen per person, visiting Baku, Sheki, Shamakhi and Gobustan, with eleven departures between November 2026 and October 2027. That itinerary reaches three of the eight regions the production partner named. Our ten-day tour covers all eight.
- Is a VIVANT movie officially confirmed?
- No. As of 28 July 2026 we found no TBS announcement of a theatrical film or a release date. The only source is the tabloid Shukan Josei, whose 11 February 2025 issue reported that a film was planned after the sequel drama. Treat any specific release date circulating online as unverified until TBS says otherwise.