Is Bodkin A True Story? The Netflix Series’ Inspiration, Explained

From Only Murders in the Building to Based on a True Story, several popular shows are dedicated to the true crime podcast phenomenon — and on May 9, another entered the chat. Netflix’s Bodkin is a dark, comedic thriller about a group of podcasters who travel to an Irish village to investigate a 25-year-old mystery.

If the description alone makes you want to watch the podcast Bodkin is based on, well, there’s a catch: Bodkin is not a true story, nor is the titular village a real place. “It’s all fake people. The mystery itself, we worked very hard to find something that is in no way adjacent to a real true crime story,” co-showrunner and executive producer Alex Metcalf told Netflix. “The fictionality of it was very deliberate.”

While Bodkin (which stars Will Forte, Siobhán Cullen, and Robyn Cara) may not be a true story, there’s a reason why it feels like it could be.

Bodkin Is A Comment On True Crime

Creator Jez Scharf told Netflix that the idea for Bodkin came when he was thinking about the “morality” of true crime. “They’re often very tragic stories, but are parceled up into neat episodes with a good hook at the end,” he said.

Bodkin, however, takes a less straightforward route to the genre. “Actually, of all the true crime podcasts, the one that was most inspiring to us was S-Town,” Scharf explained. “That’s one where you come in thinking it’s going to be about a murder, but then the story just spins out in ways that you don’t expect.”

It Filmed In A Historic Location

Another reason Bodkin might resonate with true crime devotees is that it was partially filmed in West Cork, per the Irish Examiner. The Irish coastal district was also the center of a popular 2018 podcast called West Cork, which revolved around the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier in 1996.

Just as the characters in Bodkin visited the titular town for their story, the West Cork podcasters did the same while working on their project, as Jennifer Forde told Ireland’s Image magazine.

GQ noted the similarities and suggested Bodkin might have been inspired by West Cork, but as Netflix notes, the series is “entirely fictional.”

Bodkin Has A Presidential Connection

While viewers will naturally be focused on the on-screen twists, Bodkin’s behind-the-scenes team is a surprise in itself. Both Barack and Michelle Obama serve as executive producers on the series via their Higher Ground production company. The pair have already produced several projects, ranging from docs and scripted films to educational programming, but Bodkin marks their first dramatic series.