Wayward: Exploring hypermasculinity was ‘juicy,’ says Mae Martin, here's all about it

Wayward is the perfect concoction of drama, secrets and a mystery, which will leave the audience flabbergasted. The latest psychological thriller on Netflix comes from the minds of Mae Martin, who has also written and starred in the miniseries. In a recent interview, the non-binary comedian shared their excitement around portraying the role of a transgender police officer in the fictional small town of Tall Pines, Vermont.

In Wayward, Mae Martin plays the role of Alex Dempsey, a police officer, who moves to the new town with his pregnant wife Laura (played by Sarah Gadon). His life takes an unexpected turn when he tries to help two teenagers escape from a local academy for ‘troubled teens’, where they are forced to go through unconventional therapy. Speaking about the role, Martin told Deadline,

“Alex is a character who’s desperate for acceptance, and he finds this what seems like a liberal utopia, the way a lot of those cults in the ’70s did seem to promise all of the right things. And he’s definitely someone who’s seduced by and yearning for that kind of heteronormative hypermasculinity and a nuclear family. So, it was juicy to explore that. The world is so mind-bogglingly — the things that we’re capable of as people, it’s so overwhelming.”

They further shared about taking inspiration from real-life instances for Wayward. Martin said,

“… I’m always interested in how much of our critical thinking we suppress just in order to thrive in a sick world. And especially as a young person, I think teenagers have such an acute sense of injustice, and they can see the absurdity of everything that they’re being asked to work towards, and we just kind of deride them and ridicule them. But of course they’re more morally sound than any of us.”

Wayward premiered on Netflix on September 25, 2025, with eight episodes. The series also stars Toni Collette, Patrick J. Adams, Brandon Jay McLaren, Alyvia Alyn Lind, Patrick Gallagher, Joshua Close and Sydney Topliffe.

What is Netflix’s Wayward about?

The Netflix series Wayward, set in 2003, revolves around the mysterious town of Tall Pines in Vermont where two best friends Abbie (played by Sydney Topliffe) and Leila (played by Alyvia Alyn Lind) find themselves in a therapy school for troubled teenagers.

Police officer Alex Dempsey, who arrived in the town recently with his pregnant wife Laura, learns about the mysterious local Academy, where teenagers are forced to go through a therapy process called ‘the Leap’. As per Out Magazine, Martin said about creating the series,

"I have been thinking about it since I was a teenager…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."

In Wayward, Martin plays the role of the transgender policeman Alex, who is looking to get a fresh start. However, things quickly unravel for his small family when he gets suspicious of the Tall Pines Academy run by Evelyn (played by Toni Collette). Martin told TODAY.com that the series is meant to be a conversation starter. They said,

“The questions are more important than the answers, and the conversations we want to start about how we should help young people that are in crisis … and what we are doing that’s not working and how do we reconcile our relationships with our parents.”

Watch Wayard on Netflix.

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