Featured Image Credit: Netflix
Topics: TV And Film, Netflix, Social Media
Rhiannon Ingle
Wayward viewers have been left seriously shocked after discovering that the disturbing new Netflix series is based on a 'true story'.
The eight-part thriller quickly made its way into the streamer's Top 10 slot after being released late last month (28 September), and it's clear the hype isn't going away anytime soon, with many viewers reckoning that the only thing more chilling than the creepy plot is the fact that it is based on reality.
Now, in case you're yet to rattle through the programme, Wayward, which is created by comedian Mae Martin, who also stars in it along with Toni Collette, explores a troubled teen institute called Tall Pines Academy, based in a small town in Vermont.
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The 'therapeutic' school in question doesn't offer 'therapy' at all and, in fact, sees a cult-like 'Academy Director' orchestrate physical and psychological torture on the teens.
Check out the official trailer here:
While the TV show is a work of fiction, it is inspired by Martin’s own experience of being labelled 'a wayward teen in the early 2000s' and by their best friend, Nicole, being institutionalised at a school much like Tall Pines Academy when she was 16.
Nicole even reportedly served as a consultant in the writers' room.
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"I was a wayward teen in the early 2000s, and my best friend Nicole was sent to one of these ‘troubled teen’ institutes when she was 16,” Martin shared with Netflix's Tudum. "When she came back and shared her stories, I became pretty obsessed with the industry."
Martin also opened up about the series' inspiration to Forbes last month, explaining: "We were so codependent and hysterical all the time, and she was sent to one of these schools. She was taken across the border in handcuffs in the middle of the night and disappeared for two years.
"She eventually escaped barefoot through the woods, hitchhiked across the state, and found herself in a very dangerous situation."
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Martin admitted to feeling 'a lot of guilt,' wondering if they should have gone with or instead of Nicole, and often imagined how things might have turned out differently.
"Abby and Leila’s friendship is based on ours," Martin said, referring to the show's main characters. "I’m more like Leila, and I always wondered what would’ve happened if I’d followed her."
After hearing other stories like Nicole’s, Martin felt compelled to continue examining these schools through Wayward.
"Talking to many survivors of these places, there’s this shared struggle to rediscover who you are — the person you were before someone told you at 14 that you were a sociopath," they explained.
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After catching light of the fact that the show was inspired by 'real-life events', fans rushed to social media to share their shock.
One X user penned: "Heard it’s inspired by a true story, that’s scary!"
"Netflix’s gripping new thriller Wayward, released on 25 September, brutally exposes the harrowing realities of a troubled teen academy based on the true story of creator Mae Martin’s friend, who was subjected to terrifying psychological control," quipped a second.
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A third chimed in: "Wayward was a dramatised true story. It’s real, schools that do that sh*t. Kidnap teens in their sleep & send them off. As a parent, that’s some bullsh*t fr."
"So that Netflix series Wayward was based on a true story that’s scary!" mused a fourth, while another hit out: "Wayward is based on a true story & them schools be sick af."
And a final X user praised: "It's very well done. Expressively, movably, but frighteningly at the same time, because it is based on real events."
Wayward is currently available to stream on Netflix.