Meet Mae Martin, the 'Wayward' Breakout Who Created the Netflix Miniseries Based on a Personal Experience

If you left Netflix's cult thriller Wayward wondering whose mind came up with the surreal, jaw-dropping series, it's time to get reacquainted with Mae Martin. The Canadian multi-hyphenate created, wrote, produced, and stars in the series as Alex Dempsey, a trans man excited to start a family with his wife Laura (Sarah Gadon) in her spiritual hometown of Tall Pines. But once they arrive, Alex finds himself ensnared in a cult-y community that revolves around the "troubled teen" academy of the same name, led by the menacing Evelyn (horror legend Toni Collette).

Wayward may not be Martin's first time creating and starring in their own Netflix show, but it's sure to catapult the comedian and storyteller to new heights. Below, read on for what you need to know about Mae Martin, including how they made Wayward as a sort of "wish fulfillment" for their own childhood.

Mae Martin is a nonbinary comedian, writer, actor, producer, and podcaster.

Mae Martin, 38, is a multi-hyphenate writer and performer who is nonbinary and bisexual, and uses they/them pronouns. After starting as a stand-up comedian in both Toronto and London, their acclaimed specials, including 2015's Mae Martin: Us and 2017's Dope, led them to radio and television work. In 2019, they published the YA book Can Everyone Please Calm Down? A Guide to 21st Century Sexuality.

In 2020, Martin had a breakout moment when they co-created, wrote, and starred in the semi-autobiographical Netflix dramedy Feel Good. The series, which ran for two seasons, followed a fictionalized Mae as they fell in love and figured out their gender identity through comedy. Apart from Feel Good and Wayward, Martin also played Grace St. James in the HBO Max mystery series The Flight Attendant.

2023 was a big year for Martin. That year, they started the podcast "Handsome" with comedians Tig Notaro and Fortune Feimster; won the cult-favorite British game show Taskmaster; and released their Netflix comedy special SAP, which was nominated for a Juno Award for Comedy Album of the Year.

Mae Martin based 'Wayward' characters Abby and Leila on themself and a childhood friend.

Martin was 13-years-old when they began their stand-up career, and they have been open that they soon began drinking and taking drugs. They dropped out of school to pursue comedy full-time at 15, and at 16, their parents kicked them out of the house. Martin told The Guardian that they eventually went to rehab and became sober at age 20.

In an interview with Deadline, Martin explained that the Wayward teens Abby and Leila were inspired by their real-life childhood friend, who was sent to a "troubled teen" school for two years. (According to the outlet, that friend joined the Wayward writers's room as a consultant.)

"She really was not in need of any radical intervention in my opinion, and I maybe was," Martin told the outlet. "So, I always had a lot of guilt that she got sent away and I didn’t. I mean, I was already living alone at that point, but I always imagined what it would be like if I busted in there to break her out. So, it’s a bit of wish fulfillment, and 'Would I have been able to psychologically withstand the kind of unraveling that goes on in there?'"

Martin added that they had long wanted to explore the troubled teen industry, which has roots in "self-help cults in the '70s" like Synanon. "I feel strongly about how casually and quickly we pathologize teenagers and ascribe these labels to them. Teenagers have a keen sense of injustice, and then we gaslight them," they explained. "It’s not like we are exposing any particular institution. I just want people to think about it."

Mae Martin says their trans character Alex is "deeply earnest, as I am."

In Wayward, Martin stars as Alex, a trans man who is skeptical about the town surrounding Tall Pines, even though he's quickly accepted and welcomed by the residents. Speaking to NBC News, Martin said that playing a man "just made sense" to them. "The show’s set in 2003, and I think there wasn’t a lot of fluency around nonbinary identity then and not a lot of they/thems,” they noted. "Who knows where I’ll end up on that spectrum? But it felt pretty natural to me as an actor—more natural than it would’ve been to play a woman."

Martin described their character Alex as someone similar to themselves. "[He's flawed but] deeply earnest, as I am," she told L.A. Times. "I thought about John C. Reilly’s character in Magnolia and characters I love in Fargo and Agent Dale Cooper [from Twin Peaks]. I hope that people fall in love with him and then are shocked by his fallibility."

Martin also told NBC News that they see Alex as an audience surrogate who is initially tempted by the town. "Alex is sort of the eyes of the audience, and trying to piece it all together. It’s so seductive to be in a town that is so accepting and progressive on the surface and is offering him everything he’s always dreamed of. [He] is grappling with his moral compass and also his intense yearning to have that nuclear family and mainstream acceptance that he’s always wanted."

Mae Martin says their music is inspired by the Canadian indie bands who appear on the 'Wayward' soundtrack.

Earlier this year, Martin released the indie-rock album I'm A TV, which they wrote all the songs and performed lead vocals, piano, guitar, harmonica, and bass on. Ahead of the show's release, Martin told Deadline that they were inspired by many of the same artists that Leila and Abby love.

"All my music is so heavily influenced by like early 2000s Canadian indie stuff that’s on the soundtrack for Wayward. I’ve got Tragically Hip and Sam Roberts, and then of course a lot of the kind of hippie stuff, like Pink Floyd and that kind of thing," they said. "Third Eye Blind is on the soundtrack, and in Wayward, I think if you listen to my music, you can tell it’s basically teen wish fulfillment for me. All that’s where my taste in music was forged, right in my teens when everything felt so visceral, so I’ve tried to capture that in the music as well."