Wayward opens with a mysterious escapee, but little-to-no information so far…
But this does initially feel like it has a strong start, with a blast of Pink Floyd’s Time, and later with Blue Oyster Cult’s Don’t Fear The Reaper.
For Alex (Mae Martin – Feel Good) and her other half, Laura (Sarah Gadon – A Big Bold Beautiful Journey), they’ve found a place together by going back to their tiny hometown. Jeez, if I could escape Stockport and live somewhere cool, I’d be gone like a shot!
It’s not wholly accessible to get into at first, as it jumpsback and forth between them, and with school friends Leila (Alyvia Alyn Lind) and Abbie (Sydney Topliffe), the former being a wayward teen, hence the title, although there are other elements about this that feel similarly weird.
Plus, since Evelyn Wade (Toni Collette – Mickey 17) runs the Tall Pines school for teens off the beaten track, I wondered how long it might be before a certain individual ends up there. Did things go as expected?
What’s definite, though, is that for writer/creator Mae Martin, she is not lead material. Even if you write something, it doesn’t mean you should star in it. Alfred Hitchcock directed all of his own films, but at most, just gave himself a cameo in them. He knew his limits.
Anyhoo, she plays a cop character called Alex Dempsey. She’s female, so why is one of her colleagues referring to her as “him”? Elsewhere on the internet, it says she classes herself as “non-binary”. There’s no such thing. Gen Z don’t half talk such utter bollocks. She actually has a shirtless scene as well, and those are definitely female nipples. Ah, she’s going the Ellen Page route. And Alex is pregnant. I don’t understand this world any more. I am very old.
As for Tall Pines, it’s a freaky place that makes Full Metal Jacket look like a walk in the park. I think this series would’ve been far better served to just focus on that after the initial intro, and not the waffle going on in the ‘real’ world.
Overall, though, Wayward is at best, way less than the sum of its parts, and at worst, a mess of ideas needing structure. There’s some elements that are worth expanding upon, while others – such as Alex and Laura – can just disappear and no-one would miss them.
However I find the Tall Pines new arrival’s roommate, Stacey (Isolde Ardies), brilliantly entertaining.
Thanks to our friends at Netflix for the screener prior to release.
Wayward is on Netflix from today.
It’s not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but when it is, it will be listed on the New DVD, Blu-ray, 3D and 4K releases UK page.
Check out the trailer below:
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 45 minutes per episode (8 episodes)
Release date: September 25th 2025
Studio: Netflix
Format: 2.00:1
Series Directors: Euros Lyn, John Fawcett, Renuka Jeyapalan, Mae Martin
Creator: Mae Martin
Writers: Mae Martin, Ryan Scott, Mohamad El Masri, Alex Eldridge, Kayla Lorette, Evangeline Ordaz, Misha Osherovich, Kim Steele
Music: Marie-Hélène L. Delorme
Cast:
Alex Dempsey: Mae Martin
Evelyn Wade: Toni Collette
Laura Redman: Sarah Gadon
Abbie: Sydney Topliffe
Leila: Alyvia Alyn Lind
Dwyane Andrews: Brandon Jay McLaren
Rabbit: Tattiawna Jones
Stacey: Isolde Ardies
Duck: Joshua Close
Wyatt Turner: Patrick J Adams
Chief Bartell: Patrick Gallagher
Riley: Gage Munroe
Brian: Byron Mann
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.