If you’re feeling a little too online lately but not quite ready to go screen-free yet, Penelope might be the show that inspires you to get out in the world and touch grass. 

The coming-of-age series, co-created by Mark Duplass and Mel Eslyn and produced by Duplass Brothers Productions (DBP), premiered its pilot at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival — and all eight episodes are now streaming on Netflix in the US.

“Penelope began in my office at home during the pandemic in a period of intense quiet,” Duplass said. “I think, like a lot of people, I was experiencing stillness for the first time, and it was kind of shocking. I started thinking about how much I’ve lost in my life inside of this noise. I love my life … but I started to visualize, what if I just threw it all away? I started writing a story of a 16-year-old girl who drops her life and runs off into the woods.”

Ready to get lost in Penelope’s story? Watch the video below for more, and read on for everything you need to know before following her into the wilderness.

What happens in Penelope?

Megan Stott plays the title character, a 16-year-old who feels out of place in modern society and is drawn into the unknown wilderness. She begins to form a new life for herself there, sleeping under the stars and defying the expectations of her generation.

Eslyn is president of DBP and also directs the series and serves as showrunner. She said: “When Mark brought me the story of Penelope, that’s really what I first tapped into: that escape into the unknown, finding a new life for yourself and saying no to what a lot of society puts on you. Penelope is attempting to listen to this voice inside herself. A voice that I think many of us have in today’s modern world with the technology, the accessibility, and the speed with which we all move. I think we’re looking to fill ourselves with something that we can’t find in the noise of it all.”

Nathan M. Miller/Netflix

Who’s in the Penelope cast?

• Megan Stott (Little Fires Everywhere, Yes Day, Aftermath) as Penelope
• Austin Abrams (Euphoria, Dash & Lily, Do Revenge) as Sam
• Krisha Fairchild (Krisha, Channel Zero, Freeland) as Helena
• Rhenzy Feliz (The Penguin, All Together Now, Encanto) as Peter

Producers saw around 400 actors to play the role of Penelope, because the series hinged entirely on the believability of the title character. “This tape came in, and there was this very young, almost naive-looking girl, and her name was Megan Stott,” recalled Duplass. “Immediately we thought, ‘I’m terrified for her going out into the woods.’ ”

“I personally feel like I am quite a bit like Penelope,” said Stott. “She’s very close to my heart. I think being able to really delve into the openness and rawness of who she is was very enjoyable.”

Nathan M. Miller/Netflix

Where was Penelope filmed?

The stunning woods that Penelope runs to are located in Arlington, Washington, and location scouting took months. “We were looking for a massive tree which acts as a symbol early on in the season,” said Eslyn. “Every big tree we found I would go up to and I’d hug it, and [director of photography Nathan M. Miller] would take a photo so we could get the sense of size of how big the tree was.”

On those scouting trips, Eslyn would often wear a yellow beanie, which then appeared in many of those photographs. At a certain point, she decided Penelope should wear it too. “The yellow hat just started to become a part of this story as we were building it,” she explained. “I wanted to always be able to find Penelope in the sea of green — this yellow beacon moving along the giant woods of the Pacific Northwest.”

Is there a Penelope trailer I can watch?

Yes, check it out at the top of this post.

When will Penelope be released on Netflix?

You can stream Penelope on Netflix in the US now.