Mae Martin's Wayward Debuts on Netflix as a Dark Reform School Tale

Mae Martin’s Wayward, a thriller created by and starring the comedian and writer, premiered on Netflix on Thursday, September 25, releasing all eight episodes of the limited series at once. The show centers on Alex Dempsey, a transgender police officer who relocates to the picturesque but unnerving town of Tall Pines with his pregnant wife, Laura, only to discover that the local reform school for troubled teens, Tall Pines Academy, is concealing a series of dark secrets.

Martin, who is nonbinary and best known for the comedy-drama Feel Good, wrote and leads the eight-part series as both creator and showrunner. Toni Collette plays Evelyn Wade, the charismatic and enigmatic head of the academy; Sarah Gadon portrays Laura; Alyvia Alyn Lind and Sydney Topliffe play Leila and Abbie, two teens whose escape attempt helps expose the institution’s methods. The supporting cast includes Patrick J. Adams, Brandon Jay McLaren, Tattiawna Jones and Patrick Gallagher, among others.

Martin has said the series draws on the troubled-teen industry and self-help cults of the 1970s as a metaphor for oppressive systems that seduce people, and that the story is rooted in personal experience. In...