You binged-watched all eight episodes of “The Body” in one night. No problem, no judgment. With the frightening initiation, those creepy twins, and more velour tracksuits than a 2004 mall had, some things could get lost.
The Netflix series, which debuted on Nov. 11, centers on the Lions, a Catholic high school dance team whose Halloween-night initiation leaves new recruit Grace (Sofia Wylie) in a coma and causes visions and hysteria across town. Creator Quinn Shephard, also behind Emmy-nominated “Under the Bridge” on Hulu, describes the show as having a “gritty camp” feel.
The series gets mostly positive reviews. Variety described it as “brilliant,” and NME called it “excellent fun,” while Screen Rant rated it a 6 out of 10, calling out its sapphic storyline and inconsistent pacing.
What many viewers don’t realize is just how much of the sadness onscreen is based in real life. Shephard, her co-showrunner Gina Gammell, and the actors spoke to Netflix’s Tudum about bringing their high school experiences to the series. Here are five things you probably didn’t know.
Spoilers ahead: This article contains references to plot points in season one of the series.
1) That hot tub scene was personal
Near the end, Anya (Kristina Bogic) finally gets to kiss her best friend Elise (Sara Boustany). But there’s a twist — Anya lies to her about the kiss and claims it was her boyfriend Steven (Orlando Norman), in what turns out to be a hot tub threesome where Elise’s heart is literally breaking.
Shephard said the scene was written in the writers’ room, drawing from deeply personal material, and even got emotional during filming.
For Bogic, the scene had another layer of meaning that shows through. The actor told Tudum that she kisses Steven and Elise differently, with the latter feeling “primal.” Re-watch with that in mind.
2) Shephard and Gammell drew from their high school years
Co-showrunner Gammell is an alumnus of an all-girls Christian high school as a non-Christian. For her, the show draws from the tension of being both yourself around a group of girls and outside of that group. Gammell also directed two episodes, the fifth and the seventh.
For Shephard, she was an outsider as a teenager and, like Anya, struggled with her sexuality. She feared being queer made her less of a “girl’s girl,” so she hid it. In the early days of coming out, Shephard worried that she would have to cut her hair and start wearing rainbow knee socks. (Spoiler alert: There’s no such rule.)
The series has a long history: Autostraddle said Shephard started writing it the year she came out.
3. The actors helped rewrite Anya and Elise’s first kiss
According to the script, Anya and Elise’s first kiss happened in the opening scene, with the girls kissing against a wall. Bogic and Boustany had a suggestion: Anya and Elise kiss on the ground, high, laughing, and crawling.
Boustany told Tudum that the wall kiss wasn’t intimate enough and that it’s difficult to make an intimate gesture between two friends who are standing up. They took the changes to heart. According to Gammell, the cast was allowed to do “if you can beat it, beat it” on set.
Not done there, the two actors kept journals in character. Bogic’s was pink and sparkly, of course.
Their efforts paid off: on Netflix’s X account in October, Anya and Elise were teased ahead of the premiere in a simple “Elise + Anya” post with praying-hands emoji, garnering over 330,000 views. Fans had already given the couple a name: Anyalise.
4. That regionals dance includes a hidden “Grace” Easter egg (maybe)
Anya and Elise’s freestyle dance at regionals was always the actors’ idea, according to Bogic. She said she was listening to the ’90s artists when she discovered Jeff Buckley’s “Lover, You Should’ve Come Over,” calling it “such a sweet choice” for the girls.
Boustany shortened the nearly seven-minute ballad to a few minutes and showed it to the creators. Then choreographer Ryan Heffington’s job was to build a full dance routine from it. Heffington has choreographed the video of Sia’s “Chandelier” and HBO’s “Euphoria.”
Here’s the thing you probably missed: The song is from Buckley’s only studio album, 1994’s “Grace.” Like Grace, the girl in a coma. None of the participants mentioned that Easter egg, but it’s cool to pick out nonetheless.
The choice suits the occasion too: The song gained a second life on TikTok and hit the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2025, nearly 30 years after Buckley’s death, according to Rolling Stone.
5. The Lisbeth fight made Bogic and Boustany cry for an hour
One of the season’s most intense scenes is when Anya and Elise scream at each other about their teammate Lisbeth (Geena Meszaros), who wants to fit in, while Lisbeth listens in from behind a nearby door.
Boustany told Tudum that she and Bogic cried for an hour after filming the scene and couldn’t get over it. “When you’re in the scene, and you’re screaming and shaking,” she said, “your body just doesn’t understand it’s fake.”
For Meszaros, it wasn’t a problem to portray Lisbeth’s pain, since everyone knows they are disappointed by betrayal. Her comfort: every time she opened the door after filming, Boustany was waiting to hug her.
Fans who knew Meszaros as Oatmeal Beth from Netflix’s Wayward have gotten a darker turn. At the end, Lisbeth reveals herself as the cause of the town’s mystery events. So you better leave without a hug.
The group chat verdict
Even before the release, fans paid close attention to the series. On TikTok, Anyalise edits to indie songs were already circulating after the trailer, while the fan account The Body Updates tracks Anya and Elise’s steps on X for months. One fan’s pre-premiere appeal on X summed up the mood: Please don’t make it queerbait, and please don’t cancel.
The first concern is gone. Screen Rant, even with a negative review, singled out “fantastic Sapphic scenes” in the show.
The second concern is possible. In the finale, Grace wakes up from her coma and declares herself a God, and Comic Book Club’s review notes that the eighth episode hints at the future seasons. Netflix hasn’t announced anything about The Body’s renewal yet.
All eight episodes of The Body are streaming now on Netflix. Go watch the hot tub scene again. We’ll wait.
