Is Wayward a True Story? Inside the Real-Life Cults and Troubled Teen Institutes That Inspired the Netflix Thriller
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The only thing more chilling than Wayward is the fact that it is based on reality.
Following its release on Sept. 25, the eight-part Netflix series quickly rose to the streaming platform’s Top 10. The show was created by Mae Martin, who also stars alongside Toni Collette, and explores a troubled teen institute called Tall Pines Academy.
Ahead of its release, Martin told The Bare Magazine that they hope Wayward allows viewers to “tap into their inner rebellious teen, and to reconnect with a sense of vitality, empathy, and righteous indignation that we all feel as teenagers and somehow gets dampened over time as we become adults.”
The creator and star explained that the show is “special” because it’s a premise they’ve “wanted to explore for so many years.”
So, is Wayward based on a true story? Here’s everything to know about the real-life inspiration behind the Netflix thriller.
Wayward explores a so-called “therapeutic” school in Vermont known as Tall Pines Academy that “helps” troubled youth. In reality, the facility subjects its students to physical and psychological torture, breaking them down until they become obedient shells devoted to the school’s leader, Evelyn Wade (Collette).
Inside Tall Pines, a group of teens — Abbie (Sydney Topliffe), Leila (Alyvia Alyn) and Rory (John Daniel) — discover that the only way to “graduate” and reenter society is to complete “the leap,” a sadistic practice that takes place in the school’s basement. There, Evelyn uses psychedelic drugs and psychological manipulation to brainwash them into joining the local community, which is, in fact, just a commune of Evelyn’s cultists.
Meanwhile, local police officer Alex (Martin) begins to uncover just how deeply the entire town is tied to Tall Pines, including his pregnant wife Laura (Sarah Gadon), who was once one of the brainwashed students herself.
As Martin told Forbes in September 2025, Wayward is based on their best friend, Nicole, who was sent to a school similar to Tall Pines Academy — and who served as a consultant in the writers’ room, per Deadline.
“We were so codependent and hysterical all the time, and she was sent to one of these schools. She was taken over the border and handcuffed in the middle of the night, and she was gone for two years,” Martin told Forbes. “She ended up ultimately escaping on bare feet through the woods and hitchhiking across the state, and was in a very dangerous situation.”
Martin went on to say that they had “a lot of guilt” that they should have been sent with or instead of Nicole, and always imagined what it would have been like.
“Abby and Leila’s friendship is based on ours,” Martin added. “I would be more like the Leila character, and I wondered what would have happened if I’d followed her.”
After hearing stories similar to that of Nicole’s, Martin felt inspired to continue exploring these schools through Wayward.
“In talking to a lot of survivors of these places, there’s a lot of trying to unpack and figure out who you really are underneath, before you were 14 and someone told you that you were a sociopath,” they said.
As for bringing the series to life, according to Tudum, Martin and co-showrunner Ryan Scott pulled inspiration from films like Girl, Interrupted, Get Out and Fargo.
Content retrieved from: https://people.com/wayward-true-story-what-to-know-11820618.
