Where Was ‘No Rest for the Wicked’ Filmed? Cast Details Explained

Set in 1862, No Rest for the Wicked begins as a forbidden romance before drifting into darker, supernatural territory. Baldur, a young fisherman living in an isolated Faroese community, has his life unsettled by Helge, a rugged Danish whaler who awakens feelings neither man can safely acknowledge. When tragedy tears them apart, their love returns in a form that frightens the deeply religious villagers. Directed by Kasper Kalle and written by Rasmus Birch, the romantic folk-horror film is adapted from Karl Heinrich Ulrichs’ 1884 story Manor.

Faroe Islands Production

No Rest for the Wicked was shot on location across the Faroe Islands, allowing its windswept cliffs, old settlements and unpredictable North Atlantic weather to shape the drama rather than merely decorate it. Production began in early August 2024 and was planned as a six-week shoot. Pilou Asbæk described working through wind, rain and sunshine among the islands’ sheep, conditions that naturally suit a story in which the landscape feels watchful and occasionally hostile.

Koltur

Koltur appears to be the central location behind the film’s isolated community. The official Faroe Islands tourism site states that the story takes place on Koltur and that the production filmed on the island in 2024. With no permanent residents today and two preserved historic settlements, Koltur gives the movie a rare sense of physical separation. Its grass-roofed buildings, open slopes and surrounding sea required far less modern concealment than a populated town would.

The island’s remoteness is especially important to the story. Baldur and Helge are not simply hiding their relationship from a few disapproving neighbors. They are trapped inside a close-knit community where privacy barely exists and tradition controls almost every aspect of daily life.

Kunoy

Filming also took place in Kunoy, one of the northern islands. Faroese broadcaster KVF reported that cameras were rolling there on August 14, 2024, during the opening stretch of principal photography. Kunoy’s small shoreline village sits beneath steep mountains beside a narrow fjord, giving the production both intimate village exteriors and imposing natural backgrounds.

The geography is almost unnervingly well suited to folk horror. Houses appear pressed between the water and the mountains, creating a setting that is beautiful but difficult to escape.

Saksun and Dúvugarðar

The crew worked at Dúvugarðar in Saksun during August and September. Dúvugarðar is a working heritage farm and museum where visitors can explore how people lived in the settlement centuries ago. Its traditional buildings and rural surroundings make it an especially convincing choice for the movie’s 19th-century domestic world.

No official scene list has identified exactly which interiors or farm sequences were captured there. However, the property’s preserved rooms and agricultural character would have allowed the production to create period settings with fewer modern details to remove.

Boðanes Gorge

One of the earliest documented setups was near Boðanes Gorge on the outskirts of Tórshavn. Local news photographs placed production activity there on August 10, 2024. The rocky coastal terrain gives filmmakers access to exposed shoreline without the urban center of the Faroese capital entering the frame, making it useful for scenes involving the sea, danger or Helge’s arrival.

Gjógv

Gjógv may have provided another coastal setting. A visitor staying in the village during the 2024 shoot reported that No Rest for the Wicked was filming around its famous sea gorge. The account supports Gjógv as a secondary location, although it has not been independently confirmed by the producers or a Faroese film authority. It is therefore best described as a reported location rather than a firmly verified one.

No Rest for the Wicked Cast

Egor Venned makes his feature acting debut as Baldur, while Pilou Asbæk plays Helge. Sofía Nolsøe Mikkelsen portrays Baldur’s mother, with Kjartan Hansen, Búi Dam, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson and Faroese musician Brimheim among the supporting cast.

The filming map explains much of the movie’s visual power. Koltur supplies isolation, Kunoy contributes a dramatic mountain village, Saksun brings preserved rural history, and Boðanes places the characters against the raw Atlantic edge. Few productions could ask for a landscape better suited to a love story haunted by faith, fear and death.