‘A love letter to Nantucket’: ‘Five-Star Weekend’ finds a warm welcome from Nantucket residents

Arts admin July 19, 2026 0 Comments

‘A love letter to Nantucket’: ‘Five-Star Weekend’ finds a warm welcome from Nantucket residents

Nantucket hit the small screen this month as the Peacock miniseries “The Five-Star Weekend” gave viewers a glimpse of the island. Based on the book by longtime resident Elin Hilderbrand, the show stars Jennifer Garner as Hollis Shaw, a Nantucket native who invites four friends from different stages of her life for a weekend on the island to reconnect and help her find herself following the passing of her husband. It also marks the first time a major Hollywood production has filmed primarily on Nantucket.

The prospect of a major TV show filming on the small island, home to some 15,000 year-round residents, was not without controversy. When the request to film came through in 2025, members of the town select board, who were tasked with handling the permitting request for the filmmakers, voiced a variety of concerns over the disturbances a large Hollywood production would bring to a tiny island. At town meetings, they spoke about how much opening the world up to Nantucket would ruin the local feel the community looks to preserve.

“We’re being kind of loved to death,” current select board member and former vice chair Matt Fee said in an August 2025 meeting discussing the filming requests. “Places are being overrun and they’re not what they were. So I worry stuff like this will give away some of those secrets.”

But in practice, having the cast, which included Regina Hall, Chloë Sevigny, Gemma Chan, and D’Arcy Carden in addition to Garner, and 200 crew members on the island was something of an economic boon in the off-season.

The show filmed during September and October, which not only caused less disruption to the tourism season but also helped support businesses during a quieter time. According to city reports, the production spent roughly $2 million on accommodations, which included renting 17 businesses for operation and paying the town over $130,000 in fees. The production crew also donated to two local nonprofit organizations.

Tim Ehrenberg, marketing director for Mitchell’s Book Corner on Main Street, said he was in awe seeing the large-scale production and the accurate representation of Nantucket.

“It’s like [watching] our life,” Ehrenberg said. “I’m so glad that someone’s going to see Nantucket’s Main Street. It’s just so charming, and I don’t think that it’s a place that you can really recreate somewhere else. You can really feel the sense of place on the screen.”

Another factor that helped ease any sense of disruption was that much of the show was shot at a private home on Eel Point Road, away from the city’s hot spots. When filming took place in busier areas, such as Main Street, business owners noted that the filming process still allowed for residents to go about everyday life. Bess Clarke, CEO of Nantucket Looms, a home design store on Main Street, noted operations were only impaired for a few hours and said she enjoyed seeing actors side by side with locals.

“It was both a combination of people who are the actors and the extras, and then the people who actually just had to do their errands in town,” Clarke said.

Many residents were proud to spotlight their local community because the show’s origin has such strong Nantucket roots. Hilderbrand has made the island hers, in a way. Many of Hilderbrand’s books take place on Nantucket and feature local restaurants, stores, and attractions, which select board members noted when approving the filming request.

Many businesses featured were proud to contribute to bringing Hilderbrand’s vision to life. Cru, a seafood restaurant on the water’s edge, was a prominent part of both the novel and show, and became a filming location for certain dinner scenes. The show filmed at Cru for two days, lining up the filming with days the restaurant had planned closures.

Beyond that, it’s also where Hilderbrand’s children worked, so there was a strong sense of pride to help bring the author’s vision to life. Many of the restaurant’s own servers and hosts were extras during the filming process.

“It was neat for our team to be part of it,” Jane Stoddard, who owns Cru, said to the Globe. “It was really great to be like, ‘Wow, Cru’s going to be featured in this,’ and they took such pride, as the team here is really proud to be part of Cru and proud to be on Nantucket.”

For many islanders, this is their first time seeing Nantucket represented in such detail on the big screen. “The Five-Star Weekend” is Hilderbrand’s second book adapted for television and her first to be primarily filmed on the island. The adaptation of her novel “The Perfect Couple” was mainly shot in Chatham, so “The Five-Star Weekend” captured more footage of the island itself.

“I find [Hilderbrand’s] books really a love letter to Nantucket,” Stoddard said. “So to see it filmed on island, I think is a really beautiful thing to have.”

The production crew used products from local businesses in the series as well. Nantucket Looms made and provided gift baskets that were prominent props in the show. “It’s probably not something that anyone would really be paying close attention to. But it was really special,” Clarke said.

The cast also integrated themselves within Nantucket life. The actors and crew frequented local restaurants including Cru, The Chicken Box, Something Natural, and Cisco Brewers.

Many residents were also extras in various scenes. Mary Seidel, a Boston resident and a frequent Nantucket visitor, had a few lines in the show as well. “It was just so cool to be in such a familiar setting in such an extreme version of it on set,” Seidel said. “Any opportunity to share Nantucket with the world feels really special, because it’s so personal to so many people who know it so well. So it’ll always be like my little jewel box.”

Jennifer Garner ended up visiting Nantucket Looms and taking a weaving class during her time there. “She sat down and she wove away for a couple hours,” Clarke said. “To the untrained eye, you can’t actually tell who she is because everyone’s wearing glasses, everyone’s wearing a cardigan. She just looks like she belongs there.”

As residents watch the show and pick up on the nods to the island from restaurants mentioned to friends that are in different shots, many feel a sense of pride watching their home on television.

“There’s just so much Nantucket, as someone who lives here, that we as islanders are really proud of,” Ehrenberg said. “To see it on the screen, it just warmed my heart because it is that beautiful.”