Netflix’s Wayward build up to a dramatic finale full of twists — but where did each character end up?
The limited series, which premiered on Thursday, September 25, introduced a pleasant (yet sinister) town and explored the dark side of the troubled teen industry. Mae Martin created and starred in the show, which also featured Alyvia Alyn Lind, Sydney Topliffe, Toni Collette and Sarah Gadon.
After Leila (Lind) broke into Tall Pines Academy at the beginning of the show to help her friend Abbie (Sydney Topliffe), the teenagers spent the rest of the season looking for ways to escape. Abbie found herself moving closer to accomplishing that goal with help from police officer Alex (Martin) while Leila ended up drawn to head teacher Evelyn (Collette).
This set up the finale where Abbie and Leila were close to getting out — only for the latter to choose to stay behind. Abbie is almost joined by love interest Rory (John Daniel) but he sacrificed himself so she could escape.
Prime Video Finally Renews ‘We Were Liars’ for Season 2
Back at Tall Pines Academy, Alex is kidnapped by Evelyn, who wanted him to make “the leap,” which involved injecting him with drugs and performing hypnosis on him. Evelyn was intercepted by one of her former followers and she appeared to be defeated but it remained to be seen whether she died or not.
Alex’s wife Laura (Gadon), meanwhile, successfully got Evelyn’s followers to turn on her. Instead of remaining loyal to Evelyn, the group was not following Laura’s lead and were there to help her deliver her and Alex’s baby.
After returning to Laura, Alex is disturbed by his wife now becoming the de facto cult leader. He appeared to escape with Abbie and the baby but then it is revealed to be a dream. Abbie, however, was the only one who truly was on her way out of Tall Pines.
Lind broke down the surprise ending during an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, saying, “I was lucky enough to know the general idea of what’s going to happen at the end of the series when we were even filming episode 1. So really knowing where Leila is going to end up and navigating the whole season — it doesn’t feel like that decision comes out of nowhere to stay at that school.”
The actress put in the work to show the cracks in Leila’s plan to escape.
“I was figuring out how to show the distance between her and Abbie growing, the closeness between her and Evelyn becoming her being enthralled by Evelyn,” she recalled. “I feel like my biggest thing was that I didn’t want it to seem like it was coming out of nowhere when she decided to stay at the school. So it’s all about those little places where her spirit gets slowly broken down throughout the season.”
Before diving into the consequences of Leila’s decision, Lind addressed the ambiguity surrounding her character’s relationship with her sister. (It was implied throughout the season that Leila may have been involved in her sister’s death — but the series opted to keep it unclear.)
Fall 2025 TV Schedule: See When Your Favorite Shows Will Air
“I love that there isn’t a solid answer. I think that that is going to be one of the things that is debated,” she explained. “I also think it’s really important to show how when you go through a major trauma like that, it is very true that your mind tries to block out as much of it as possibly can. It develops Leila as a character so much more and shows the truth of she doesn’t know what happened. So that’s terrifying to her. She really truly, after that episode thinks that she did kill Jess.”
Lind continued: “Whether she did or whether she did not, she will always feel that guilt for being there. It shows that breaking point with Evelyn where she asked for help to heal. I really hope people debate it and I’m really excited to see what people’s answers are. Personally, I don’t think that she killed Jess. I think that that was Evelyn walking her through and trying to make her believe that to make her stay.”
Wayward has been marketed as a limited show — but Lind wouldn’t mind returning for more.
“I would love to do a season 2 and I would love to explore it more. I know that the show is pitched as a limited series but I have no idea what the future holds,” she noted. “All I know is that I am hoping that people love the show. We [should] make a season 2 so that we can really figure out what happens to Leila, what happens to Evelyn, Abbie’s new life and just the entire entirety of where everybody ends up. There are so many characters that are still unexplored.”
Wayward is streaming on Netflix.
