Through an unflinching lens, Unchosen lays bare the seedy and oppressive underbelly of the cult world. 

In the trailer for the upcoming series we meet Rosie (Molly Windsor), a member of a cloistered Christian community where women are bound to servitude by their male leaders. As Rosie navigates a painful relationship with her husband, Adam (Asa Butterfield), her world is turned upside down by an intriguing stranger named Sam (Fra Fee). 

At first, Sam seems like the perfect escape from Rosie’s dark world. But, as time goes on, she realizes something sinister lurks beneath the surface. Everyone, it seems, has secrets they’re hiding, and those truths unravel over the course of six episodes. 

Created and written by Julie Gearey (Intergalactic), the series — which debuts on Netflix April 21— drew inspiration from the real-life experiences of former cult members. The writer reached out to people who had escaped those communities, tracking them down through online forums and social media. 

Rekha Garton/Netflix

“What we found was that quite a lot of them were traumatized,” Gearey explains. “It was important to reassure them as much as we could that, firstly, nobody watching the show would ever recognize them and, secondly, that whatever they had to say about the emotional experience of being involved, we would try to respect and reflect as truthfully as possible within the show.”

Butterfield did his own research, diving into the BBC documentary Bruderhof Community, which follows a radical Christian sect in Sussex, England, where electricity and smartphones are forbidden. “I remember there was this one man who was so precise and considered in everything he did that he was a bit like a robot,” the actor shares. “Even walking up the steps, he would take it one at a time, almost as though he was scared of falling.”

Gearey discovered that there are over 2,000 cults currently operating in the United Kingdom, though — according to an academic specialist she worked with on the series — there could be many more. “There are tiny cults that are no more than an extended family,” she says. “When society is going through a period of extreme uncertainty — like we are now — that’s when these cults rise up.”

Rekha Garton/Netflix

Justin Downing/Netflix

Adds Gearey, “I think there’s a real comfort and support in these groups. You don’t have to worry about where you’re going to live, what you eat, whether you’ve got any friends. It’s a very, very secure social structure … When it works, it really works, but if you start to question their methods … that’s where the problems start.”

Unchosen arrives on Netflix April 21. Watch the trailer above now.