The Wilds is an American drama television series created by Sarah Streicher for Amazon Prime Video.

The series revolves around a group of teenage girls who are left stranded on a deserted island after a plane crash, but are unaware they are the subjects of a social experiment.

The cast features Sophia Ali, Reign Edwards, Shannon Berry, Jenna Clause, Mia Healey, Helena Howard, Erana James, Sarah Pidgeon, David Sullivan, Troy Winbush, and Rachel Griffiths.

The first season was released on Amazon Prime Video on December 11, 2020, and received positive reviews from critics, with praise for the performances, writing, and plot.

A group of teenage girls from different backgrounds – Fatin Jadmani, Dot Campbell, Martha Blackburn, Rachel Reid, Shelby Goodkind, Nora Reid, Toni Shalifoe, and Leah Rilke – are on an airplane when it crashes into the ocean while en route to Hawaii for the Dawn of Eve program, a young women's empowerment retreat.

As the girls work to survive as castaways and learn about each other, they are unaware that they are subjects of a social experiment; the plane crash was staged and their stranding orchestrated by Gretchen Klein, the head of the Dawn of Eve program.

The second season introduces a group of teenage boys: Kirin O’Conner, Rafael Garcia, Josh Herbert, Seth Novak, Ivan Taylor, Henry Tanaka, Bo Leonard and Scotty Simms.

En route to the Dawn of Eve retreat in Hawaii, nine teenage girls — Rachel, Nora, Martha, Toni, Shelby, Dot, Leah, Fatin, and Jeanette – are stranded on a remote island after their plane crashes.

Rachel leads an expedition to the top of a hill to get a view of the island, planning to use Fatin's mirror to signal for help.

Meanwhile, Gretchen continues to watch the girls, and arranges for them to discover a bag containing medicine, ostensibly belonging to the crashed plane's pilot.

As a result, Rachel develops severe bulimia to lose weight, straining her relationship with her sister Nora; she hits her head and falls during a crucial dive.

She eventually loses control and angrily wrecks their team's shelter, upsetting Martha, who says she's tired of cleaning up Toni's messes.

Eventually they find Fatin, who has discovered a pond, finally giving the girls a source of fresh water; observing them, Gretchen notes the milestone.

Meanwhile, Nora reveals that Rachel was cut from the diving team and is not going to Stanford, causing the two to fight until Dot puts a stop to it.

Flashbacks: Shelby's life as a teen beauty pageant participant; her controlling father runs conversion therapy sessions.

Meanwhile, a parallel experiment has begun with nine boys on an island: Rafael, Josh, Scotty, Bo, Kirin, Ivan, Henry, Seth, and DJ.

Unknown to them, DJ's death was faked; he is Gretchen's son Devon, who killed Nora's ex-boyfriend, Quinn.

Flashbacks: Rafael commuted from Tijuana to attend a private school in San Diego, where his girlfriend Marisol was the daughter of wealthy philanthropists.

Hiding their food supply from the animal, Scotty persuades Bo to steal some jerky for themselves, concerned that the others may not be trustworthy.

After the funeral, Rachel sits on the beach, mourning, while Nora, alive and well, watches her via the monitors at Gretchen's headquarters.

Flashbacks: Ivan led a campaign to get Kirin's lacrosse coach fired for wearing a blackface Halloween costume.

Seth approaches the boys claiming that he found the boat that was supposed to rescue him when he demanded extraction from Gretchen.

[8] On July 31, 2018, Mia Healey, Helena Howard, Reign Edwards, and Shannon Berry were cast as series regulars.

[9] On November 7, 2019, Rachel Griffiths, David Sullivan, Troy Winbush, Sophia Ali, Sarah Pidgeon, Jenna Clause, and Erana James joined the main cast.

[10] On May 3, 2021, Zack Calderon, Aidan Laprete, Nicholas Coombe, Charles Alexander, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Reed Shannon, Tanner Ray Rook and Alex Fitzalan were cast in starring roles for the second season.

The website's critics consensus reads, "An addictive thriller that also captures the complex lives of teenage girls, The Wilds is worth getting lost in.

[18] Kristen Baldwin of Entertainment Weekly gave the series a B+ and wrote, "Here, the mystery isn't so much why these girls are on the island as how being there will change them—and I, for one, want to go back.

"[19] Richard Roeper of Chicago Sun-Times gave the series 3.5 out of 4 stars and said, "What's so impressive about The Wilds is how creator Sarah Streicher and the deeply talented young cast members immerse us in this world so quickly and create an almost instant interest and empathy for these eight teenage girls.

"[20] The show has received praise from critics and advocacy groups for its diverse cast, which includes indigenous and queer characters, and its "front-and-center" depiction of same-sex relationships.

The website's critics consensus states, "The Wilds gets a little lost after expanding its ensemble at the expense of its original hook, but the core cast remains as watchable as ever.