Wayward Showrunners Discuss Potential Season 2 After Shocking Finale

Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Wayward.Wayward showrunners Mae Martin and Ryan Scott address if there will be a second season following season 1’s shocking ending. Netflix’s new mystery series revolves around a school for “troubled” teenagers and the investigation that follows after an escape attempt. This reveals dark secrets about the school and the town of Tall Pines.

Even though the show, which was created by Martin, is designed as a limited series, Wayward‘s ending arguably leaves room for the story to continue. Alex Dempsey (Martin) decides to stay in Tall Pines with Laura (Sarah Gadon) and their newborn baby. Leila (Alvia Alyn Lind) also decides to stay, while Abbie (Sydney Topliffe) chooses to leave.

While speaking with Variety, Martin and Scott were asked if they wanted to make a second season or leave the ending as it is. Martin acknowledges that audience reactions indicate “an appetite for more” while believing that the show works as a miniseries. They also believe that Alex’s ending is not that ambiguous and that it’s more a matter of viewers being frustrated with his ultimate choice.

Scott argues that while not everything is resolved, the story is mostly complete, and that the different ways Alex and Abbie respond to their traumatic situation teaches how there is no one correct way to respond to a traumatic situation. Check out Martin and Scott’s comments below:

Martin: I’ve been doing so much press and I’m so interested in people’s reactions to the ending. It seems like people have an appetite for more, but also it’s so funny that people are like, “Well, it’s really ambiguous with Alex.” I’m like, “I don’t know if it’s ambiguous — maybe he just didn’t make the choice that you wanted him to make.” Some of the characters make disappointing and very human choices. I think, hopefully, it works as a mini-series, but then it’s also obviously fun to imagine what would happen. But I feel like the FBI would be in there pretty fast. There are so many dead people now.

Scott: There’s a lot of dead people. There are a lot of things at the bottom of that pond to find. I’m so excited to see what people think, but I mean, there’s a part of this that’s a tragedy and it does feel a little unresolved in a sense, but mostly also resolved. I think Dempsey makes a very clear decision. It’s a decision that a lot of us make that comes with adulthood, which is that we’re not always willing to risk blowing up our little lives to do what’s right. And sometimes that’s what adulthood feels like. I don’t want that to be the case, but it sometimes is. But there are different resolutions for other characters outside of Dempsey that paint the image of the whole human experience, of how we are all different people. Some people are like Abbie and can really hold on to themselves and be empowered by this and make it. Some people just don’t. That’s like having the panoply of responses and not just one path for dealing with your trauma. That is really important: There’s not just one right way to do everything.

What This Means For Wayward

Martin and Scott’s responses indicate that they are mostly satisfied with Wayward‘s ending and are not currently planning to make a second season. The respective choices that Alex, Leila, and Abbie make are meant to feel like an ending, although there is always room for the characters to change their minds in the future.

Reviews for Wayward have been mixed so far and the show holds a 76% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes. However, with audiences already hungering for season 2 and potential storytelling avenues left to explore, it is still a possibility, especially if the series manages to perform well on Netflix’s streaming charts.

With Wayward being inspired by shocking true stories, dark secrets still to be uncovered, and characters left in Tall Pines, a second season could definitely happen. All the characters breaking free of Tall Pines and all the secrets being exposed might make the series feel more resolved.

That being said, Wayward works well as a limited series, and both Martin and Scott make a strong case for why the ending should be allowed to stand without a continuation. The series leaves more of an impact by having viewers reflect and wrestle with the characters’ decisions instead of having a second season where everything is neatly resolved.