Is ‘Wayward’ based on a true story?
The clamour surrounding Mae Martin’s new thriller, Wayward, is growing by the minute on Netflix. The limited series was recently released on the streamer, which stars Martin as a police officer who moves to the small town of Tall Pines, where sinister secrets openly plague its mysterious Academy.
While the eight-part series answered many questions, the one that keeps looming at large is: Is it based on a true story?
Wayward is set in 2003 and picks up right after Alex Dempsey’s move to Tall Pines with his wife, Laura. The town has a school for troubled teens, the Tall Pines Academy, run by an equally enigmatic leader, Evelyn. As suspicion grows and the tension heightens, Alex begins to investigate the ties as his wife slowly ascends to a cult leader.
As for those who are troubled whether Wayward is based on a true story, it’s not. However, the school is inspired by Martin’s own childhood experiences. In a conversation with Tudum ahead of the release, the creator and star revealed their inspiration. Martin reportedly had a friend during their teenage years who attended a school for troubled teens, which led to an instant obsession with the industry.
“I started developing Wayward based on a lot of things, but mainly, my own experiences as a young person. 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. When she came back and shared her stories, I became pretty obsessed with the industry,” they shared.
What made Martin all the more curious was the industry’s origins from self-help groups and cults of the ‘70s, which, despite their morally questionable ways, earned huge profits. “I knew it was rich for thriller territory,” they added. In fact, their friend, Nicole, ended up as a consultant for the Netflix series and the writers’ room, which additionally included another writer who has experience with a troubled teens school.
Besides Nicole’s experiences, Martin was also inspired by the religious movement Synanon to create Wayward. “In researching these schools – a lot of which are now being talked about in different documentaries, I learned about Synanon,” they added. Synanon was a self-help cult of the ‘70s residing in Los Angeles, which was eventually closed. However, Synanon heavily transformed and contributed to the start of the ‘troubled teen’ industry.
A former alcoholic, Charles Dederich, who earned sobriety through Alcoholics Anonymous, started the movement in 1958. His idea was to get more people to open up about their experiences. One of the most crucial parts of the movement was the group therapy, known as the Synanon game, which required participants to let it all out by screaming and yelling at each other, only to hug it out at the end.
Wayward’s Hot Seat from episode three was conceived similarly. While Martin borrowed much from reality, they and Ryan Scott, who serve as co-showrunners, were also inspired by the world of fiction, including Girl, Interrupted, Get Out, and Fargo.