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Mae Martin<\/a> will be showing a whole new side of themself in the upcoming Netflix miniseries\u00a0Wayward<\/a><\/em>. Martin, who is known for comedy, created and stars in the new thriller, which hits the streamer on September 25.<\/p>\n Wayward<\/em> explores the troubled teen industry in a town full of secrets. But is it based on something that Martin actually lived through? Scroll down for everything we know.<\/p>\n In\u00a0Wayward<\/em>, which takes place in 2003, Martin plays a cop named Alex Dempsey who moves to the town of Tall Pines with his wife Laura (Sarah Gadon<\/a>). Alex soon discovers that nothing is what it seems in Tall Pines.<\/p>\n While working as a local cop, Alex begins uncovering some of the town\u2019s \u201cdark and deeply rooted secrets\u201d after there\u2019s an escape attempt at the local school for \u201ctroubled teens,\u201d Tall Pines Academy. He teams up with two students, Abbie (Sydney Topliffe) and Leila (Alyvia Alyn Lind<\/a>), and begins suspecting that the school\u2019s mysterious leader, Evelyn (Toni Collette<\/a>), is at the center of all the town\u2019s problems.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s about two teenage girls who are sent to this fictional school called Tall Pines Academy and who are trying to maintain their sanity,\u201d Martin told Tudum<\/a>. \u201cMeanwhile, the adults around them are trying to process their own trauma.\u201d<\/p>\n And despite the dark storylines in the show, Martin promises \u201ca lot of comedy,\u201d due to the fact that \u201cteenagers are hilarious.\u201d<\/p>\n No,\u00a0Wayward<\/em> is not actually based on a true story, but Martin did pull from moments of their own life, as well as the life of one of their friends, to shape the story.<\/p>\n \u201cI was a wayward teen in the early 2000s, and my best friend Nicole was sent to one of these \u2018troubled teen\u2019 institutes when she was 16,\u201d Martin explained. \u201cWhen she came back and shared her stories, I became pretty obsessed with the industry. I was deeply intrigued to learn that a lot of its origins actually came from self-help groups and cults in the \u201970s and how there can be huge profits and often questionable practices. I knew it was rich for thriller territory.\u201d<\/p>\n They added that the \u201cheart\u201d of the story is \u201cbased in truth,\u201d but that \u201csome genre elements\u201d were added. \u201cWayward<\/em> has a lot of societal metaphors for the systems that we all participate in as adults and how much of our empathy and critical thinking we have to suppress in order to just live in the world,\u201d they shared. \u201cAll the characters are grappling with that issue in this show.\u201d<\/p>\nWhat is\u00a0Wayward<\/em> about?<\/h2>\n
Is\u00a0Wayward<\/em> based on a true story?<\/h2>\n