The Haunting Real Story Behind Something Really Bad Is Going to Happen

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What could be worse than vowing to spend forever with the wrong person?

Haley Z. Boston, the creator of the new Netflix series Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen, explored themes that are often more frightening than realizing you’ve made a mistake in a relationship. The show’s intense horror is rooted in a very real fear that many people share and worry about.

Boston included.

Growing up, my mom always warned me about the importance of choosing the right life partner. As she explained to Netflix’s Tudum, that’s exactly what this show explores – the anxiety surrounding making the wrong choice in marriage.

Her parents have been married for around 37 years, but that didn’t ease her anxieties—it actually made them worse, according to the Oregon native who spoke with the Los Angeles Times.

Boston shared that knowing about his parents’ long marriage created a lot of pressure. He described it as a curse, constantly comparing his own relationships to their 30-year union, which he admitted wasn’t a productive way to think.

Even attending her friends’ nuptials just felt…off.

She explained to Variety that the show’s concept came to her when she was 27. Seeing many friends get married as she neared 30 sparked her interest. It struck her that they were all quite young to be making such a huge, lifelong commitment, and she found the anxieties around that to be a perfect fit for a horror story.

She admitted to Tudum that when people claim they ‘never had a doubt’ in their wedding vows, she finds it unbelievable. She wonders how anyone could feel so certain from the start.

But Boston, now 31, was engaged to the idea of turning her deep-seated fears into a Grand Guignol.

You know, when I first came across this project, it really struck me as something fresh – a horror story centered around the very real fear of commitment. And honestly, it resonated deeply because I was actually navigating that in my own life at the time, making it a really personal experience for me.

The genre, she added, “allows you to take all these internal feelings and externalize them.”

Even though the show’s title is straightforward, at the beginning, we’re kept guessing whether Rachel (Camila Morrone) is simply nervous about her upcoming wedding, or if something truly unsettling is happening – and if her fiancé, Nicky (Adam DiMarco), isn’t who he seems.

It’s not surprising to see a painting of his family with an empty chair, almost as if someone was expected, is it? And isn’t it odd that the “vacation cabin” where Rachel planned her wedding—a place she’d never seen and with people she hadn’t met—turned out to be a huge mansion?

Regardless of how things unfold, Rachel consistently finds herself being seen as the irrational one. However, it’s Nicky’s disbelief in her – beginning with him brushing off her concern that her wedding dress was stolen after it disappeared – that truly causes major problems.

Morrone, who has been with Cole Bennett since 2024, explained to Glamour that a sense of unease begins as soon as the character arrives. She described a pattern of manipulation where the character struggles to trust her own instincts because she’s repeatedly made to feel like she’s wrong, leading to a confusing and unsettling situation. Ultimately, she just wants to cope, but she also feels that something is deeply wrong.

The actress added, “It’s a very isolating experience to be in that headspace.”

The story is also very relatable, as Morrone points out that it really speaks to the way women are seen and treated. It highlights how women are often made to feel irrational for their emotions and are restricted when they express them.

Rachel’s hesitation about marrying Nicky stems from a deep-seated fear of commitment, symbolized by a long-standing family curse: she must marry her soulmate or face death. This curse perfectly captures the typical pre-wedding jitters any bride might experience.

I don’t claim to have a complete understanding of soulmates,” Boston explained to The Wrap, “but for me, finding the right person to marry means choosing someone who truly understands and accepts you for who you are.”

As a lifestyle expert, I often see people struggle with commitment, and this situation was no different. The show hinted at Nicky being the one with cold feet, and it really struck me that she was subconsciously comparing her potential relationship to the strong, established marriage of her parents. It’s a common pattern – we all measure our relationships against the standards we grew up with, and for Nicky, that high bar set by her mom and dad was definitely playing a role in her hesitation.

She described her parents’ strong and happy marriage, and shared a question someone asked her at work: ‘What could make you rethink everything?’ She responded that discovering her parents’ relationship wasn’t as perfect as she believed would completely change how she viewed love.

Honestly, even with all the drama and, yeah, the bloodshed, I just think her ending is unbelievably beautiful. It’s not just sad, it’s… hopeful? Romantic, even! I know some people don’t get it, but to me, it’s perfect. It feels like everything she went through led to that moment, and it’s just… sigh… so good.

She confessed she truly believed in love, which is why finding the right partner meant so much to her. She added that if someone didn’t believe in love, they probably wouldn’t feel as strongly about it.

So now, if nobody has any objections, check out some of TV’s less terrifying weddings:

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2026-04-04 15:17