Netflix's new murder mystery series Untamed transports viewers to Yosemite National Park with a gripping opening featuring a sensational death off the face of El Capitan.
The series tells a suspenseful story of a National Parks special agent (Eric Bana) who investigates the cryptic death of a woman. After watching the series, the viewers have a question is it based on real events or not.
The response is straightforward: Untamed is not real. The characters, plot, and even the core killing mystery are all fictional, penned by writers Elle and Mark L. Smith.
The series does draw heavily, though, from the park's real-life history of natural and man-made hazards. Yosemite's unforgiving landscape—El Capitan in particular—isn't immune, with a reported dozens of fatal incidents, climbing tragedies.
More than 30 El Capitan climbing fatalities have been reported since 1905 alone. Others are the result of the risks of aggressive timed climbs, social media fame stunts, or simply plain mistakes on perilous ledges.
While violent crime is rare in Yosemite, it is claimed that the authors were motivated by a few infamous tragedies. Most notably, Cary Stayner's 1999 murders, known as the "Yosemite Park Killer," shocked the nation when four women, tourists and a naturalist in the park, were murdered within and just outside of Yosemite. The circumstances of those crimes loosely echo throughout Untamed, but no real murder and victims are reenacted; the plot-driven mystery is purely the authors' creation.
Co-showrunner Mark L. Smith made it clear in interviews: "Everybody thinks of Yosemite as this beautiful place … but we were trying to stretch for the threats that just lurk behind that." The program is more concerned with revealing those hidden dangers than reenacting actual events.
In short, Untamed is a work of fiction based on actual dangers and unusual tragedies in Yosemite, but the characters and story are not drawn from any particular true tale or actual criminal investigation.