Mae Martin’s show Wayward (TV Mini Series 2025) is propped up by such a spectacularly vicious lead in Toni Collette she hijacks attention through every flickering scene, flares of conflict and resentment. She becomes this monolithic figure who demands centre-stage, refusing to cede her designs. Collette conjures unsettlement of the highest order, spinning a web for eager prey. This is the kind of show that knows how it desperately seeks to lean on its imperious character to get the whole thing going without a lot of chafing or bumps. What happens when an entire town falls under the sway of such a guru?
Wayward (TV Mini Series 2025) Recap:
The first episode opens with Riley Warren scampering away from the Tall Pines school. He leaps into a pond. A microphone suggests that he’s in desperate need of help and his mother absolutely crippled by lack of recourse. A cut reveals expansion into four characters in different arcs and threads. Abbie and Leila have been linked with trouble at their school. Leila, bereaved over her sister’s loss, doesn’t want to part with Abbie, when the principal tells her she ought to move to Tall Pines. Abbie plans to steal the examination papers at school.
The other track dovetails a couple, Alex and Laura. They are expecting a child. They move into Evelyn’s house. She says Riley has been involved in violent incidents. Riley breaks in at the couple’s house. Amidst a scuffle, Riley gets knifed by Alex and dies, but he does tell him that Laura is one of “them”. It’s unclear, but Laura is an old member of the academy. Abbie and Riley steal the papers, but when Abbie gets home, she’s taken away by a group of men. Titled “Burrow”, the second episode teases a deeper dive into the functioning of Tall Pines.
Does Leila make it to Tall Pines?
Abbie is put through several screening tests at the new school, introduced to various rites for new entrants. There are very clear stipulations, stripping access to phones. There are even color marked denominations. She meets Stacey, a senior who gladly reports on disobedient students. She befriends Rory whom Riley had hurt. Leila forges her own way to the school because her mother doesn’t have the resources for admitting her into Tall Pines.
Alex witnesses a strange rite of bonding between Laura and Evelyn, who comforts her. He also chances across Leila in the forest before she lands at the school. Abbie and Leila encounter the ‘hot seat’ ritual-one group member is battered by all sorts of difficult comments and opinions, followed by a group hug. Evelyn presides over the proceedings. Locked up in the basement for trying to exchange, Abbie and Leila see aquariums with toads and CCTVs. Thankfully they see Alex. He tells Abbie to call him. Later, Leila is taken to the Mirror Room.
An anguished Abbie confides in Alex the school is assailing them with its regimen. Laura dismisses it. She also has a spiritual edge to her. At the school, we continue to witness a lot of psychological manipulation, wicked mental games, pitting one student against the other.
Why are Alex and Laura’s child important for the town?
Stacey shares with Abbie she has been chosen for special therapy, a leap. Now Abbie dreads the same thing that happened to Riley, a bout of violence after an accorded jump, might re-occur. Later, Abbie sees Evelyn lugging a drugged Stacey, calling on her to abandon everyone. Despite Alex’s insistence, it seems Laura would rather succumb to Evelyn’s assurance that staying at the town would be best for her. Alex informs Abbie that Riley is dead. It also turns out Laura’s child will be the first one the town will have in a long time. So the entire town pins their hopes on the couple. Laura is torn between sticking to her community and her partner.
Once Leila is put on the hot seat and piled on with attacks, she slips that Riley is dead, which sets off conflict and unease among students. Evelyn and other authorities are locked out, but she retains her cool. Alex meets Maurice, an activist who has been reporting on the disappearances of the children and has lost her daughter herself. Maurice suspects the school turns the students into something else. Ponderosa, a shell company, owns most of Tall Pines. Laura’s parents too had disappeared. Evelyn isn’t let into the baby shower. The students’ revolt misfires when Ello overdoses and they have to open the door for the medical crisis.
Evelyn separates Leila from the group and directs them to a wilderness hike. Daniel strays off the route. Stacey finds and stabs himm Marty makes it to the top first and allowed to go. He’s dropped in front of a wood. An overwhelmed Marty goes back to the bus. Locked up in the Mirror Room, Leila is asked by Evelyn to reappraise her sister’s death. How much of her own guilt is implicated? Could she have helped and prevented her sister, whom she felt envious of, from drowning?
Does Laura leave the town?
Laura submerges herself in the water body. In the seventh episode, a flashback reveals Evelyn was a part of a community led by Weldon. Evelyn has turned much of her learnings into her own community. She says she’s determined to snip the intergenerational cycle of trauma. Laura ignores Evelyn’s calls and entreats Rabbit in joining her in exposing Evelyn. Leila gets more attention and affection from Evelyn than her own mother. Alex is befuddled by the peculiarities all around and stumbled across Daniel’s rotting corpse. Laura assures the community she’ll never leave them. Alex tries to get away but Dwayne knocks him down.
Wayward (TV Mini Series 2025) Ending Explained:
Does Evelyn’s Cult Break Up?
A flashback had shown Evelyn assuming leadership of the community by killing Weldon. Dwayne was also part of the community that colluded in the murder. Laura and Evelyn argue over the question of kids, the former insisting biological reproduction should be allowed. Evelyn cautions her about Alex. The school head leaves, stressing the plan to Leap Alex is well underway. But Laura’s water breaks. Leila and Abbie reconcile after several bitter words lobbed at each other. Abbie reasons with her that Evelyn is messing with her memories. Dwayne coerces Alex into the Leaping room. With a power outage in the school, Leila, Abbie and Rory flee in Mule’s car.
In the Leaping room, Evelyn assails Alex. Just once when most supplies are ready for the journey, Leila declares she wants to stay back in the academy. So they part; Abbie and Rory take refuge in a cabin. Somehow Alex frees himself and attacks Evelyn with the injection. She tells him Laura killed her parents. Surrounded by encroaching community, Rory aids Abbie in fleeing. Alex kills Dwayne and joins Laura as she delivers the baby. Evelyn dies under the effect of the drugs Rabbit administers. In the final moment, Laura declares her child belongs to the community. While Abbie has escaped the town, Alex chooses to stay back for his love.
