The Love Hypothesis filming locations & official Prime Video trailer below!
One of BookTok’s biggest romance novels is heading to the screen, with Lili Reinhart and Tom Bateman bringing Olive and Adam’s fake-dating experiment to life in Prime Video’s The Love Hypothesis.
Based on Ali Hazelwood‘s bestselling 2021 novel, the romantic comedy follows PhD candidate Olive Smith, whose attempt to convince her best friend she’s over an old crush leads her to impulsively kiss intimidating professor Dr. Adam Carlsen – and eventually agree to a fake relationship with him.
But while Olive’s academic world is associated with Stanford University in California, the real The Love Hypothesis filming locations took production considerably further north.
The movie was predominantly filmed in Montreal, Quebec, with a real Canadian university transformed into Olive and Adam’s California campus.
So where are all The Love Hypothesis filming locations, which university became Stanford, and when does the movie arrive on Prime Video?
Where Is The Love Hypothesis Full Trailer?
Right here! Enjoy!
Where Are the Love Hypothesis Filming Locations?
The Love Hypothesis was filmed primarily in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, during summer 2025.
Montreal actors’ union ACTRA listed the Amazon feature as shooting in the city from July 14 until August 29, 2025, while cast member Nicholas Duvernay has since said the movie will be filmed in Montreal.
Production listings also referenced both Montreal and Palo Alto, the California city that’s home to Stanford University.
However, one of the movie’s most recognizable locations is actually a Canadian university that stands in for Stanford.
Concordia University, Montreal
Concordia University was used as one of The Love Hypothesis filming locations.
IMDb’s production information identifies both Montreal and Concordia University as filming locations for the movie.
The choice makes sense for a story so deeply rooted in academia. Olive is a PhD candidate whose research, friendships, and eventual romance with Adam unfold within the university environment, meaning that laboratories, lecture spaces, and campus buildings form an important part of the movie’s world.
More specifically, reporting around the shoot identified Concordia’s Loyola Campus as being transformed for the production, with Stanford signage appearing around the university.
That means viewers watching Olive navigate what appears to be Stanford may actually be looking at a university more than 2,500 miles away in Montreal.
Is The Love Hypothesis Really Set at Stanford?
Yes. The academic setting is a major part of Ali Hazelwood’s original story.
Olive is a biology PhD candidate navigating graduate-school life when she unexpectedly finds herself fake-dating Adam, a notoriously intimidating professor.
Stanford therefore isn’t simply a pretty college backdrop. Laboratories, research, and the pressures of academia are fundamental to Olive’s life and to the novel’s science-meets-romance identity. For the film, Montreal provided much of that on-screen academic world instead.
Why Was The Love Hypothesis Filmed in Montreal?
Amazon MGM hasn’t publicly given a specific reason for choosing Montreal, so there’s no need to invent one.
What we do know is that production was based there for several weeks during July and August 2025, and the city offered filmmakers a real working university campus that could be transformed into the Stanford setting required by the story.
Montreal is also a major North American production centre and regularly doubles for U.S. cities on screen.
In The Love Hypothesis, however, it’s the university environment rather than Montreal itself that’s likely to be most noticeable.
What Is The Love Hypothesis About?
According to Prime Video, The Love Hypothesis follows Olive, a talented PhD candidate firmly focused on building her academic career.
Things become considerably more complicated when she discovers that her best friend Anh has feelings for Jeremy, Olive’s former crush.
Determined to prove she’s moved on, Olive impulsively kisses professor Adam Carlsen.
The pair eventually enter into a fake relationship with their own rules and boundaries — only for the distinction between their experiment and their actual feelings to become increasingly difficult to maintain.
It’s a classic fake-dating rom-com setup, albeit one set in laboratories, graduate student quarters, and scientific research rather than the usual workplace or wedding backdrop.
Is The Love Hypothesis Based on a Book?
Yes. The movie is based on Ali Hazelwood’s 2021 novel The Love Hypothesis.
The book became a major romance success, spending months on The New York Times bestseller list and helping establish Hazelwood as one of the biggest contemporary names in romance fiction.
There’s also a particularly famous piece of history behind the story: The Love Hypothesis evolved from Hazelwood’s earlier Star Wars-inspired fanfiction, with Olive and Adam having roots in Rey and Kylo Ren.
That connection became even more amusing when Tom Bateman was cast as Adam: Bateman is married to Daisy Ridley, who plays Rey in the Star Wars films.
Who Plays Olive and Adam?
Riverdale star Lili Reinhart stars as Olive, with Tom Bateman playing Dr. Adam Carlsen.
Prime Video also confirms Rachel Marsh as Olive’s best friend Anh and Nicholas Duvernay as Jeremy.
The wider cast includes Jaboukie Young-White as Malcolm and Arty Froushan as Tom. Claire Scanlon, whose rom-com credits include Set It Up, directs from a screenplay by Sarah Rothschild.
When Does The Love Hypothesis Come Out?
The Love Hypothesis will be released globally on Prime Video on September 23, 2026, meaning UK viewers will be able to stream it on the same date.
Prime Video released the first teaser in June, giving fans their first proper look at Reinhart and Bateman as Olive and Adam.
With one of contemporary romance’s biggest book fandoms behind it, The Love Hypothesis looks set to be one of Prime Video’s major romance releases of 2026 – even if the California university world viewers see on screen was largely created thousands of miles away in Montreal.
What do you think of The Love Hypothesis filming locations?