The Scariest Part of Netflix’s Wayward Never Appears On-Screen

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A new crime thriller, , is quickly gaining popularity, currently holding an 87% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Viewers are rushing to watch, and many are drawing comparisons to Twin Peaks. The limited series, all eight episodes of which are now available, was created by Ryan Scott and Mae Martin. Euros Lyn, the director of Heartstopper, also directed and executive produced, describing the collaboration with Martin, Toni Collette, and Sarah Gadon as “a dream come true.” Jennifer Kawaja and Bruno Dubé (Sphere Media), Ben Farrell and Hannah Mackay (Objective Fiction), and Lyn are additional producers. Renuka Jeyapalan and John Fawcett also directed episodes.

The series takes place in 2003 and centers on Alex Dempsey (Martin), a police officer who relocates to the peaceful town of Tall Pines with his wife, Laura (Gadon). Tall Pines is the location of Tall Pines Academy, a school for struggling teenagers overseen by Evelyn Wade (Collette). Alex quickly becomes suspicious that the academy is concealing disturbing truths and starts collaborating with two teens from Toronto who are stranded there with no means of escape. It’s a creepy and disturbing narrative that rightly draws comparisons to Twin Peaks and Stranger Things, but many viewers are unaware that the most frightening aspect of Wayward is its basis in a real-life event.

What Is Wayward About?

Abbie and Leile are teenagers navigating the challenges of growing up, each in their own way. Abbie (Sydney Topliffe) and Leile (Alyvia Alyn Lind) are both acting out, but for different reasons. Leile is still grieving the loss of her sister and is turning to drugs and skipping school, while Abbie is pushing back against her overbearing parents. After their rebellious behavior gets them into trouble at school, they’re both sent to Tall Pines Academy, a boarding school that claims to help students change their lives for the better.

While facing a professional challenge in Detroit, Alex and his wife, Laura, move to Tall Pines, a town that seems perfect on the surface. Laura, who once attended Tall Pines Academy, fondly remembers Evelyn’s positive influence during her youth. Tall Pines gives off a charming vibe with its beautiful Main Street and a surprisingly forgiving attitude towards things that happened in the past. However, beneath this pleasant exterior, something feels wrong in Tall Pines.

Throughout the town and the academy, unusual events begin to happen, pushing the limits of what people consider ordinary. We get a first glimpse of the town’s hidden problems right at the start, before the opening credits, with a frightened teenager (Gage Munroe) running away into the night-a sign of the troubling mysteries to come. As the series unfolds, it becomes clear that the school’s teaching methods are quite unconventional, and the town itself is keeping secrets that could be even more frightening than anything happening at the academy.

Wayward Was Loosely Inspired By Real Events

Although the story in Wayward is made up, Tall Pines Academy was based on George R.R. Martin’s own upbringing. In an interview with Tudum before the show came out, Martin shared that the idea for the school came from his own life and his interest in programs for struggling teenagers. He remembered:

The idea for Wayward came from many sources, but mostly from my own life. I was a rebellious teenager in the early 2000s, and when my close friend Nicole was sent to one of these ‘troubled teen’ programs at 16, it really impacted me. After she returned and told me what happened, I became fascinated with this industry,” they explained. “I discovered that many of these programs actually started with self-help groups and cults in the 1970s – and that they could be very profitable while using practices that were often concerning. I realized it would be a great setting for a thriller.

Nicole continued to contribute to the series as a consultant, and the writing team included someone with firsthand experience at one of the schools. Beyond individual stories, Martin investigated Synanon, a self-help group from 1970s Los Angeles that functioned as a cult, which heavily influenced how Tall Pines was portrayed. “My research into these schools – many of which are now receiving attention – led me to Synanon,” he stated. “It was a cult in LA during the ’70s that was eventually closed down, but it evolved and played a role in the early days of the ‘troubled teen’ industry. We used those real details and then exaggerated them significantly.”

Synanon, established in 1958 by former alcoholic Charles Dederich, employed challenging group therapy sessions known as the Synanon game. These sessions involved participants shouting at each other, ultimately concluding with a group embrace. Wayward mirrors this dynamic in Episode 3 with its “Hot Seat” scene, where a student faces verbal attacks from classmates before receiving a concluding hug. In addition to drawing from real-life events, Martin and Scott also found inspiration in fictional works, citing films and series like Girl, Interrupted, Get Out, and Fargo as further influences on the show’s overall atmosphere and narrative.

Wayward Highlights the Darkest Corners of the Troubled Teen Industry

The troubled teen industry has faced consistent criticism for its harmful practices, and Wayward quickly delves into this troubling past. The first episode culminates in Abbie being forcibly taken by the school during the night, a scene made even more upsetting by her parents’ passive acceptance. Individuals who have shared their experiences with these kinds of institutions-including those highlighted in The Program: Cons, Cults and Kidnapping-have confirmed that teenagers were frequently taken without their consent by transportation services arranged by their parents and brought to places like the Academy at Ivy Ridge. Previous students have also detailed how their identities were taken from them, through things like unwanted haircuts and rigid schedules, details that Wayward also investigates.

Within the school’s walls, Abbie and her fellow students live under incredibly strict rules – they aren’t allowed to touch each other, have personal items, use pens or pencils, and are constantly watched. The students are separated into four groups – burrow, break, build, and ascend – and only those in the highest level receive extra benefits like better food, access to games, or supervised phone calls home. This setup strongly resembles Ivy Ridge from The Program, where a student’s score and ranking determined everything. In both schools, the students who reached higher levels were responsible for monitoring their peers, which fostered an atmosphere of suspicion and separation, effectively controlling the student body.

Although Wayward primarily centers on the emotional and mental anguish experienced by its characters, it doesn’t overlook the physical toll as well. The deaths of some students, and the unexplained disappearances of others, are based on reports of actual tragedies. A government report called Residential Programs: Selected Cases of Death, Abuse, and Deceptive Marketing reveals how a lack of care, medical errors, and difficult living conditions have resulted in the deaths of many students.

The series features Repressed Memory Therapy (RMT), a psychological technique that was once common but has since been proven false. Therapists using hypnosis and suggestion would create fabricated memories of traumatic events, frequently leading patients to believe they had experienced abuse that never actually happened. In the show, Evelyn uses this same method on Laura and Leila, forcing them to think they committed the murder of family members. By portraying these practices, Wayward highlights how manipulating someone’s mind can be as harmful as physical violence.

By portraying kidnapping, oppressive power dynamics, therapy resembling cult tactics, challenging survival situations, and outdated psychological methods, Wayward transforms real-life instances of abuse into a fictional narrative that feels strikingly realistic. This, among other things, has fueled the show’s rapid popularity, which is still increasing as more people watch and talk about this thought-provoking and well-made limited series. Featuring a talented cast and a plot that consistently surprises, . Martin’s limited series – which many are hoping will be renewed – highlights that attempts to suppress teenage rebellion through force or control often fail, and also demonstrates how susceptible individuals can be to the influence of compelling leaders.

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2025-09-29 22:08