Starring Eric Bana, Sam Neill, Rosemarie DeWitt, and Wilson Bethel, Netflix’s new show Untamed has quickly risen to number one on the TV charts. It’s got an impressive 79 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, which is not particularly surprising when you consider the subject matter of the show: The National Park system in the US.
What is Netflix’s Untamed actually about?
The six-episode miniseries was released on July 17, and it has since unseated Amy Bradley is Missing as the number one-watched TV show.
Following Kyle Turner, an Investigative Services Branch agent of the National Parks Service (ISB), Netflix’s Untamed is a gripping story that is sparked by a particularly brutal murder. Alongside rookie ranger Naya Vasquez, played by Lily Santiago, Eric Bana’s Kyle attempts to solve the mystery while dealing with his own demons and the dark secrets of Yosemite National Park.
The big question is: Is Untamed a true story?
So, is Untamed inspired by a true story?
The shorter answer is no, the storyline of Netflix’s Untamed is NOT based on a true story. The longer answer is a bit more satisfying, if not completely terrifying.
In an interview with the LA Times, showrunners Mark and Elle Smith detailed how they were inspired to write Untamed after being sent several articles about the ISB, which carries “out a wide range of investigative and law enforcement activities for parks and regional offices across the National Park System.”
They were inspired by ISB agents as “part FBI agent and part park ranger”, so Eric Bana spoke to some agents to get a sense of “just how crazy” their lives can be.
“When you mix drugs, when you mix people coming from all kinds of different backgrounds and having different entitlements to the places that they’re in, it’s really interesting,” he said.
Credit: Netflix
Similar crimes have happened in Yosemite National Park
America’s vast National Parks have long been a subject of conspiracy theories and horror stories, covering everything from alien abductions to communities of mountain people living in the hills. Not only are such locations the subject of countless horror films, but TikTok has a thriving community of people sharing sightings of Bigfoot, skinwalkers, and wendigos.
On this plane of existence, the National Parks have also been associated with rampant crime, hence the dedicated police force. Though violent crimes of Untamed’s nature are rare, they’re not completely unheard of.
Back in 1999, in what is now referred to as the “Yosemite Murders”, a mother, her daughter, and their friend were killed. Just a few months later, another woman was killed, with Town and Country Magazine reporting that it was the closest murder to Untamed’s homicide.
Untamed is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news and drops, like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.
Featured image credit: Netflix
