Warning: Spoilers for the Wayward season 1 finale are ahead!
Wayward‘s showrunners dig into the season finale ending, and its major Alex twist. The Netflix thriller released on September 25, and already has a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 75%. Created by and starring Mae Martin, the show sees two troubled teens team up with a newly local police officer, to investigate sinister goings-on in the town of Tall Pines.
The Wayward finale unveiled several shocking revelations about Tall Pines Academy, its chilling headmistress Evelyn, and the town of Tall Pines itself. One of the biggest shocks came with Martin’s cop, Alex, making the decision to stay in Tall Pines with his now-cult leader wife Sarah, and their newborn, instead of taking the baby and fleeing.
Per Variety, Martin, and co-showrunner Ryan Scott, discussed the ending, what Alex’s decision means, and how this changes the character’s journey. Scott talked about how the skin-to-skin scene at the end, as the baby is welcomed into the cult, was beautiful but eerie, and a Rosemary’s Baby moment.
Martin discussed how Alex’s decision to stay with his wife and the baby was not the outcome he would have wanted from parenthood, and that he realizes he has made a huge mistake. Check out Martin and Scott’s comments below:
The skin-to-skin scene at the end is so scary and strange. How did it gestate in your mind?
Scott: I’m not sure. I think it came for me because I’ve got two kids, and one of them was born in the middle of the night after a very long labor. It was a strenuous thing. I remember that skin-to-skin moment and how bizarre and strange and connecting and visceral and messy it was. It’s a thing that people don’t see a lot, and it’s very intimate when that happens and it’s your first moment of connecting. It’s the beginning of the story of your life with this person and of that connection. I thought it would be particularly interesting in this show, given Mae’s character. All of a sudden, you’re like, “How does everyone connect to this in this world where this is the first kid? What if they all started taking off their clothes?” That was our moment at the end of “Rosemary’s Baby” where there’s a little hand that comes out. It seemed like a really beautiful but eerie, progressive, messy way of telling a story of how perverted it would be if that were the case.
Martin: For Alex, who’s so yearning for this heteronormative nuclear family and to be the guy for this baby — to have that moment ripped away from him and, in that moment, have it dawn on Alex that this is not going to be what he thought it was. I think it’s such a jarring image and so deeply icky that he instantly knows he’s made a huge mistake. He’s so desperate for all those rites of passage of fatherhood and all the moments, but he doesn’t get to cut the umbilical cord and things like that. So tragic.
What This Means For Alex’s Wayward Journey
Alex kneeling in the woods in Wayward
Alex makes a decision that many people would struggle to understand, and elects to remain in the town with the cult, rather than taking his baby to safety. As Martin notes, Alex has a strong desire for a nuclear family, likely borne from his abusive relationship with his father, and he has this taken away from him at the end.
There is perhaps a feeling that the baby will be showered with love and adoration by the cult, especially as there are no babies in the town of Tall Pines. But, it’s clear from Alex’s reaction, and Martin’s comments, that Alex immediately regrets what he’s done, and realizes he has made a huge mistake, and one that may come back to haunt him.
Our Take On Wayward’s Finale Episode
Alex and Sarah stand in the outdoor market in Wayward.Courtesy of Netflix
One of the key reasons Wayward has been well received by critics is because it’s a very cleverly written show that has plenty to say. The finale’s Alex revelation is the perfect rug pull for the character, and ends the show with a denouement that feels both ambiguous and final for many of the characters, with Alex seemingly accepting his fate.
There are definite nods to Robert Rodriguez’s The Faculty, and The Stepford Wives, in many parts of Wayward, and it will be fascinating to see whether Martin has planned for any further episodes. The Netflix thriller was planned as a miniseries, but it feels like there is enough left ambiguous that the show could return for another season.
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