Mae Martin opens up about ‘very personal’ new Netflix drama Wayward

Comedian Mae Martin has opened up about their “very personal” new series, Wayward.

The non-binary comedian and actor, who in January announced their surprise career move into music, previously described their latest series as “a lifelong passion project”.

The mini-series is about the fictional Tall Pines Academy and the troubled teens that are sent there. Martin stars as Alex Dempsey, a police officer who has recently moved to the Tall Pines area with his pregnant wife, Laura (Sarah Gadon). There they encounter the mysterious Evelyn (Toni Collette), who runs the academy and seems to hold a power over the town.

Martin, who fronted Fluid: Life Beyond the Binary, a 2024 documentary delving into the factual background of gender fluidity, revealed that their new thriller series was inspired by a childhood friend. 

As reported by Out Magazine, during a screening in Los Angeles on Saturday (20 September), Martin was joined by their friends, alongside series star Gadon. 

Ahead of screening the first two episodes, Martin spoke about the show, which has been a labour of love for six years, calling it “very personal”. 

‘I feel protective of young people’

“I have been thinking about it since I was a teenager,” they began, adding: “My best friend when I was 16, she was a stoner, not in need of any radical intervention, and she was sent to a troubled teen institute. She was gone for two years and ended up escaping and hitchhiking. The stories that she had about her time there were so crazy, so I’ve always been interested in that industry.”

They explained that the series, which follows two “troubled” best friends, Abbie (Sydney Topliffe) and Leila (Alyvia Alyn Lind), focuses on the duo’s relationships with their families. 

They explained that they feel “strongly about how we pathologise young people when they might be just reacting to a sick world and how those labels that we give them affect the way they view their own potential.” 

They added that the show is about “the world that we’re handing to the next generation,” and intergenerational trauma.

“As we get older, I feel like we have to suppress so much of our empathy, or critical thinking, just to participate in the world and the systems that govern the world,” Martin said. 

“I feel protective of young people. I feel like we should listen to them, and also we should tap into our inner rebellious teenagers. We’re gonna have to, I think, in order to have the kind of conviction and imagination that we need to imagine a different world.”

Mae Martin’s Wayward premieres on Netflix on 25 September. 

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