Is The Madness based on a true story?

Things go from bad to worse when it emerges that the murder victim is a known white supremacist – and the line of suspicion starts to point in the direction of Muncie.

With themes around disinformation, conspiracy theories, race and politics, the new series certainly has grounding in the real world and current affairs and, naturally, viewers might be wondering whether The Madness is based on a true story. Read on to find out.

Is The Madness based on a true story?

No, The Madness is not based on a true story, but the series does take inspiration from today's social and political climates.

In an interview with TUDUM, Domingo has explained that his character, Muncie Daniels, is modelled after real-life media pundits "who are respected, at times challenged, even by their own communities, sometimes looked at as being not Black enough, and then to some folks, too Black".

He explains: "He is someone who was definitely an activist when he was younger, then moved into a different echelon and then became a bit of a superstar. He’s a little bit removed from the communities he was advocating for."

The series has been created by playwright and film director Stephen Belber, who also said of The Madness: "You wake up every day and you read various headlines, and we're in a sort of world where the notion of objectivity is really hard to come by as we navigate all the information that’s coming at us 24/7.

"What’s important is the notion of how to declutter in order to find out what you care about amidst it all."

The popularisation of far-right ideologies, the rise in white supremacist groups in the US and discussions around disinformation impacting elections are all things that have grabbed public attention as of late especially – and are all things featured heavily throughout the series.

Of course, in The Madness, Muncie is a pundit on real-life American news channel CNN too.

"The Madness is a kind of metaphor for the world that we're in now – the social media world," director and executive producer Clement Virgo says.

Domingo adds: "The Madness is really examining the climate that we're in right now and trying to tell us to think about that.

"Who sows those seeds of disinformation? Who's puppeteering all of this? That's why Muncie is going through the different sections of society to find out what's going on."

The Madness is now streaming on Netflix – sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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