Is Netflix's 'Unbelievable' A True Story? What To Know About New Crime Drama

Starting on Sept. 13, Netflix will invite viewers into a world of crime and uncertainty when "Unbelievable" begins streaming. The show centers around Marie Adler (Kaitlyn Dever), a teenager who alleges that a rape took place. Toni Collette and Merritt Wever also star and play detectives who are determined to find out the truth behind Marie's story. However, viewers may wonder just how much the series blurs the line between fact and fiction. Is "Unbelievable" based off a true story?

The answer is yes. The series, which is broken into eight parts, found its inspiration from a 2015 Pultizer Prize-winning article called "An Unbelievable Story of Rape," written by T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong, and an episode of "This American Life" titled "Anatomy of Doubt."

READ: How Do You Know Netflix's 'Unbelievable' Cast? A Look Inside

The show is based around Marie, then 18, who filed a report that she was sexually assaulted. Due to the supposed inconsistencies in her story, authorities began doubting the authenticity of her account, which prompted them to suggest to her that perhaps it had come to her in a dream or that she had fabricated the entire thing. The police eventually began to take a deeper look in order to find out if Marie had been truthful or if she had, in fact, created a story out of thin air.

"Each ring of the phone seemed to announce another friendship, lost. A friend from 10th grade called to ask: How could you lie about something like that? Marie - that's her middle name, Marie - didn't say anything. She just listened, then hung up. Even her foster parents now doubted her. She doubted herself, wondering if there was something in her that needed to be fixed," reads the original text that the Netflix crime drama was based on, alluding to the fact that from early on everything regarding her story seemed to be scrutinized and therefore confusing to the victim.

Aside from Dever, Collete, and Wever, Vanessa Bell Calloway, John Hartmann, and Kai Lennox are also set to star in the new series.

"Unbelievable" is now streaming on Netflix.