Mae Martin Opens Up About New Netflix Show 'Wayward' and the 'Experience of Otherness' (Exclusive)
- - Mae Martin Opens Up About New Netflix Show 'Wayward' and the 'Experience of Otherness' (Exclusive)
Grace LeederSeptember 28, 2025 at 3:24 AM
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Netflix
In many ways, Wayward is a show about outsiders. The Netflix drama, which was released on Sept. 25, from comedian, actor and writer Mae Martin, follows two teenage girls who are sent to a camp for troubled teens. It’s a coming-of-age story wrapped inside a thriller (Martin has described the show as One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest meets Booksmart) and one that examines what happens when society labels young people as problems to be solved rather than lives to be nurtured.
Beyond its teenage leads, Wayward explores a range of outsiders: queer and trans characters navigating identity, fragile adults who suppress parts of themselves to survive and a community drawn in by the promises of belonging, only to find exploitation underneath it all. By centering the show on those who live in the margins, the show turns adolescence and adulthood alike into battlegrounds of conformity and resistance.
For Martin, who broke through with the acclaimed semi-autobiographical Feel Good, their new show marks both a creative evolution and a deeply personal project. In an exclusive interview with Parade, they said they are "grateful for the experience of otherness.” That perspective runs through every character, every conflict and every moment of the series.
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Where did Wayward start? What was the seed that formed the foundation for everything else the show became?Well, all of our teen years are very visceral. And I feel like in other things that I’ve written, I’ve been talking around adolescence, and I’ve written characters that are processing their teens, or in stand-up, I talk about my teens. So I always knew I wanted to tackle a coming-of-age story. And my best friend was sent to a troubled teen facility when I was 16. And she was just like a pothead, and she was sort of handcuffed in the night and vanished for two years. And so I always felt strongly about the troubled teen industry and its shady practices. And so it felt like a good framework for a thriller that would get into those themes of adulthood.
What changed about the show, and what stayed the same as you continued to develop it?I knew that at its heart, I wanted to have this central friendship with these two teenage girls. My friendships were so pure at that age, and so deep and codependent and hysterical. So I knew that was important, and that’s always been the emotional heart of it.But in developing it, and thinking about this dual narrative of the adults in the wider town and the wider mystery of the town, I really enjoyed looking at Alex and Laura’s characters and all the things they’ve had to compromise and suppress in order to participate in the world.
You co-wrote every episode of Feel Good. And in both seasons of that show, you had the same director for every episode of that season. This project feels like you handed more off.Yeah. I was new to that American system. Feel Good was very intimate, almost guerilla filmmaking. It was the first thing I’d done. And in some ways, I feel more empowered now to imprint myself on things. So yeah, it was interesting. We did the whole writers’ room in LA—everybody’s weighing in on everything. I wrote the first and last episodes, and then as you’re getting the scripts, you’re rewriting and making sure that the tone is cohesive.
What were some of the things that you were imprinting into the scripts?It’s hard to describe, but my tastes... the specificity of dialogue, balancing tone. So much comedy comes from really specific character detail and grounded character comedy. Even down to certain words I like the sound of.
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I want to talk about Alex, the character you play in the show. Alex has he/him pronouns and is out. Talk to me about that choice in developing that character.What I like is that Alex’s transness is kind of incidental. It might not be explicitly explored, but thematically it is. What makes Tall Pines so enticing to Alex is that, on the surface, it’s this progressive little utopia where he can live the heteronormative life he’s desperate for. He’s fragile. Hopefully three-dimensional. His transness is just one aspect. But in justifying why he turns a blind eye to so much, and why he wants to stay there—that’s a big part of it. I looked at self-help cults from the ’70s, which were the genesis of the troubled teen industry. They promised freedom, but all it took was one exploitative narcissist to ruin it all.
Do you debate with yourself how explicitly trans to make this show?Yeah. Especially in the current climate, where even acknowledging transness can be incendiary, or get your show labeled political. But I think anything I make will have that lens, because I’m grateful for the experience of otherness. It lets me look at the world in a useful way. And in truth, we’re all “other.”
Talk to me about casting Toni Collette. I’ve been a fan my whole life. She has so much gravitas. We wrote with her in mind, but never thought she’d do it. Then we had a Zoo,m and she asked such thoughtful questions. I knew she’d be a real collaborator, not just show up for a paycheck. Once she got here, she wanted to inhabit the character and also have the best summer. We had a great time.
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You filmed the show in your hometown, Toronto, and also had your premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival! How exciting!Yes. It’s crazy. I used to go to TIFF with my friends and a camcorder, waiting for celebrities. So it feels full-circle. I feel very proudly Torontonian after working with this incredible Toronto crew.
And you set the show in 2003.Yeah, which is when I was 16. I got in a lot of millennial Canadian stuff: The Odds, Our Lady Peace, Tragically Hip, Sam Roberts. Hopefully, lots of people will relate, but at least a niche millennial Canadian audience will feel at home.
Many fans of you found you through Taskmaster. Is there any Taskmaster in this show?No. But my dad made a puppet for Taskmaster, and he’s in Wayward. He plays a puppet seller, and his puppets pop up secretly in Evelyn’s office.
What’s a little detail in Wayward you’re proud of that people might miss?Our production designer, Manu Fréchette, his level of detail was amazing. In Episode 1, in Mr. Turner’s office, on his desk is a framed Dave Matthews Band concert ticket. It said everything about the character. That made me laugh. So yeah—look out for that.
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This story was originally reported by Parade on Sep 28, 2025, where it first appeared in the TV section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
