10 TV Shows Like ‘Wayward’ Worth Watching
The series “Wayward,” by creator, writer, and actress Mae Martin, is Netflix’s most popular series to date. It’s a suspenseful detective story about cultism and the cycle of trauma at a school for troubled teenagers, and its closeness to real-life stories of abuse in such institutions makes it even more compelling.
Wayward does several things well: first, it’s a detective show, meaning we’re immediately presented with not one but several intriguing puzzles, the solutions to which are doled out sparingly. It’s also a great example of the “small towns are weird” subgenre, which likes to remind us that even in the quietest communities, strange and sinister things happen. The show sheds a dramatic light on the industry of troubled teens, represented here by Tall Pines Academy, run by a smirking and sinister principal played by Toni Collette. And last, but certainly not least, Netflix’s biggest and most talked-about series tells a story with a transgender character at its center, created by and starring non-binary comedian Mae Martin. In 2025, that’s no small feat. All of which suggests there are several different paths one could take, leaving us searching for which show to watch next.
Wayward Pines (2015–2016)
These shows have more in common than just similar names. Based on a trilogy of novels by Blake Crouch, the series initially stars Matt Dillon as a Secret Service agent investigating the disappearance of two colleagues in the Idaho town of Wayward Pines (not to be confused with Tall Pines of Wayward ). Things go awry almost immediately, and he wakes up after a car crash to find that one of the agents (Carla Gugino), who also happens to be his ex, has settled into the seemingly idyllic spot—and she’s 12 years older than when he last saw her a few weeks ago. To make matters even more dramatic, the local sheriff (Terrence Howard) institutes a strict “no one ever leaves” policy under penalty of death. From there, the mysteries continue to mount. Watch Wayward Pines on Hulu.
Hemlock Grove (2013 – 2015)
One of Netflix’s first original series, this supernatural thriller takes us to the titular Pennsylvania town, where economic realities have forced the closure of a steel mill, leaving residents with no choice but two remaining employers: the Godfrey Institute for Biomedical Technology and Hemlock Acres Hospital. Choose, but do so knowing that Olivia Godfrey (Famke Janssen), the head of the Godfrey Institute, is rumored to be conducting all sorts of bizarre experiments. When two teenage girls are murdered, a 17-year-old Romani boy, believed to be a werewolf, becomes the prime suspect. The thing is, he’s a werewolf, but that doesn’t make him the killer. Watch Hemlock Grove on Shudder and AMC+ .
Twin Peaks (1990–1991, 2017)
With all due respect to Wayward , I’m not sure there’s ever been a better or more iconic series about a small town full of dark secrets. In the first season of Twin Peaks , teenagers and adults faced human tragedy accompanied by supernatural threats from beyond the realms of space and time. Kyle MacLachlan plays FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper, who arrives in the town where the series is set to investigate the murder of prom queen Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee). His arrival in the town becomes a (very) long night of the soul, as Cooper uncovers the secrets and mysteries of the town’s charming, and sometimes frighteningly strange, inhabitants. Watch Twin Peaks on Mubi and Paramount+ .
Yellow Jackets (2021 – )
Purely in terms of plot, I’m not sure Yellowjackets and Wayward have much in common. Tonally, however, they mesh well, with mystery and intrigue abounding among characters with complex pasts (both shows also feature several significant LGBTQ+ characters). This time-jumping survival drama follows a group of teenage girls stranded in the wilderness in 1996 and committing horrific acts to survive—the extent of which we only learn about through flashbacks to the present, where the events of those 19 months continue to resonate. There are hints of the supernatural, mostly ambiguous, but there are plenty of horrors in the past that we still see firsthand. Yellowjackets , rather cynically, argues that there’s a vast difference between the version of the past we talk about and the one that actually happened. Watch Yellowjackets on Paramount+ ;Netflix currently has the first two seasons.
Wild (2020–2022)
The detective thriller series Wild, which unfolds between flashbacks and flashforwards, follows the crash of a plane full of teenage girls en route to Hawaii for an empowerment program. It quickly becomes clear that the crash was staged and that the whole thing is a social experiment of sorts, forcing the survivors to compete for survival. The series explores the ways young women are exploited in the real world and how they are expected to compete with one another, which drives its intricate plot twists. Like Wayward , the series exploits the power of manipulative authority figures to manipulate young women. Watch Wild on Prime Video.
Institute (2025 – )
This Stephen King adaptation takes us to a very different school for unruly children: the Institute, where teenagers with unique abilities are locked away and manipulated; the uncaring staff subjects them to grueling, torturous experiments daily. Meanwhile, former police officer Tim Jamison (Ben Barnes) hopes to leave his shady past behind and start a quiet life in a nearby town, until, of course, he finds himself drawn into the mystery of a sinister school in the next town. The series has been renewed for a second season. Watch “The Institute” on MGM+ .
Frog (2024)
There’s no sinister school setting, but otherwise, the series is decent if you’re looking for a sinister, twisted mystery in a seemingly quiet town. After his wife dies, Yeon-ha (Kim Yun-seok) dreams of a quiet life in the secluded town where he lives, renting out the house next door for vacations, though even that doesn’t exactly inspire him. Everything is going well until a young woman with her son shows up—the same woman who suddenly leaves behind bloodstains and, even more terrifyingly, a child.Watch “Frog.”
Parts of Her (2022)
While the detective/thriller vibe is strong, we’re mainly here for Toni Collette, at least in terms of her connection to Wayward . Bella Heathcote plays Andie Oliver, a young woman who has returned to her hometown to care for her mother, Laura (Collette). Within the show’s first 20 minutes, a shooter attacks the diner where they’re both eating. When the man targets Andie, her mother dispatches the killer with relative ease, which Andie believes raises some questions about her mother’s backstory. The confusing series repeatedly debating whether Collette’s character is a hero or a villain, but she’s clearly someone you don’t want to run into the wrong way.Watch Pieces of Her on Netflix .
Since (2022 – )
Perhaps a little more shocking than Blind , here we travel to a town (which we’re never given a name) from which no one can escape. Residents and visitors alike are trapped, not metaphorically, but literally: creatures burst from the woods, killing anyone found outside after dark. The Matthews family learns this firsthand when they drive their RV into town and find themselves trapped with the local sheriff (Harold Perrineau) just as darkness falls. The monsters in the series aren’t just mindlessly hungry; they’re cunning and sadistic, more than capable of killing residents in spectacularly gory ways. It’s a very supernatural take on the phrase “small towns are not what they seem.” Streaming on MGM+ .
Program: Fraudsters, Cults, and Abductions (2024)
This true-crime documentary series explores one of the central themes of “Wayward”: the so-called “troubled teen industry,” a vast array of centers for at-risk teens. Despite numerous scandals and documented cases of abuse, it is nonetheless a multibillion-dollar industry in the United States, offering behavioral correction and rehabilitation services to parents and guardians who believe their children have become problematic. This series focuses on the rather horrific experiences of the “students” (or rather, inmates) of the former Ivy Ridge Academy in upstate New York. That facility has closed, but others like it remain in operation, and with the return of conversion therapy as a legal alternative, the industry is likely to experience a new boom.Watch “Cons, Cults, and Kidnapping” on Netflix .