Netflix’s new thriller Wayward is an exciting spin on the genre that won’t be what you’re expecting

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After appearing in *Feel Good* and winning the fifteenth season of *Taskmaster*, Mae Martin is returning to Netflix with a surprising new series.

Mae Martin’s new series, *Wayward*, is a big departure from their previous work like *Feel Good* and their stand-up specials. Unlike those more personal projects, *Wayward* – a much better title than its original name, *Tall Pines* – is a surprising thriller that mixes horror and comedy in a strange and unsettling way. It really takes the show in a completely new direction.

Created by Martin and Ryan Scott (who also worked on shows like *Fear the Walking Dead*, *Servant*, and *Revenge*), *Wayward* takes place in a town that looks perfect on the surface but hides a dark secret. The story centers around troubled teenagers who attend a strange school run by Evelyn Wade, played by Toni Collette.

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You’re probably wondering: who *wouldn’t* want to be part of a group led by Toni Collette? It sounds perfect, but for best friends Abbie (Sydney Topliffe) and Leila (Alyvia Alyn Lind), it’s a nightmare. They find themselves stuck in their school with no way out.

Similar to the strange toads that appear throughout the story, *Wayward* alternates between their perspective and that of Alex Dempsey, a police officer who recently relocated to Tall Pines with his pregnant wife.

Laura, played by Sarah Gadon, used to be one of Evelyn’s students, and their history quickly begins to reveal the truth about the unsettling events happening in town.

Explaining too much would ruin the wonderfully wild ride this story takes you on, and a lot of the humor comes from how unexpectedly bizarre things get. We unexpectedly burst out laughing at lines like, “Shut up Mufasa,” for instance. But while it’s funny, *Wayward* isn’t a non-stop comedy.

The unsettling events at Tall Pines Academy are reminiscent of films like *Ratched* and *One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest*. Students are consistently stripped of their dignity and subjected to harsh therapy that forces them to confront their deepest issues – all supposedly for their own good.

Wayward strikes a balance between unsettling and genuinely frightening. It has strange moments, but avoids becoming overly bizarre or surreal like David Lynch’s work. Instead, the show creates its own distinct atmosphere, offering something completely different from typical Harlan Coben mysteries you might find on Netflix.

Over the course of the eight episodes, Martin’s character, a police officer, consistently feels like he doesn’t fit in, capturing the unsettling feeling of being queer and isolated in a small town. Interestingly, his queerness isn’t what causes people to treat him as an outsider.

People readily accept Alex as a transgender man, and the show treats its queer teenage characters, like Leila, with similar normalcy. *Wayward* doesn’t avoid the complexities of LGBTQ+ identities; it portrays sex, relationships, and bodies-including Martin’s comfortable display of their top surgery scars-openly and without shame.

Many stories might have used queerness to quickly represent feelings of loneliness, but Martin skillfully avoids that predictable approach. Instead, they challenge typical genre conventions and thoughtfully include their own identity in a space where queer stories aren’t often the main focus.

Honestly, “Wayward” really threw me for a loop – and in a good way! It’s not what I expected from Martin at all, but it’s also a seriously welcome surprise for the thriller genre as a whole. We needed something fresh like this.

Although it was initially planned as a limited series, the story’s open ending leaves room for many more seasons of *Wayward*.

Wayward is available on Netflix.

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2025-09-25 14:19