Maid, a Netflix original series based on Stephanie Land’s biography, left viewers wondering what happened to the real-life “Alex” when she graduated high school.
Maid’s horrific miniseries leave viewers wondering what happened to Alex after he went to college after the season. Based on a true story, Netflix’s Maid was inspired by Stephanie Land’s 2019 book, Maid: Hard Work Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive, and has led the streaming service’s Top 10 list for several weeks.
Maid is the story of one woman’s struggle to survive against all difficulties, which culminates with her moving to Montana with her young daughter to start a new life – but what happened next for Alex? Where is Maid’s author—the “genuine” Alex—now?
Netflix’s Maid centers on Alex’s character, a young mother played by Margaret Qualley, and the difficulties of being a single mom. In the premiere, she is shown packing up her 2-year-old daughter, Maddie, in the middle of the night to flee her emotionally abusive partner (Nick Robinson).
She gets a job as a maid and signs up for help, working hard to make ends meet and provide for her daughter. She returns to her life-long love of writing while scrubbing the toilets of the privileged and journals about her intimate view of the wealthy.
Alex finally puts her torturous past behind and begins over in Missoula, Montana, thanks to her writing, securing her a scholarship at the University of Montana.
Land’s story is both a tragedy and a success, providing insight into the dysfunctional American welfare system and the horrors of emotional abuse. In real life, Land overcame problems, left an abusive relationship, and got full custody of her daughter, Story.
The ground was finally free when she moved to Montana for college, just like Alex in Maid. When settling in Montana, Land received a Bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing from the University of Montana and worked as a freelance writer before landing a book deal for her memoir after one of her pieces went viral.
Land continued to clean houses to pay for college, and after graduation, she wrote many freelance writings, including one titled “I Spent 2 Years Cleaning Houses.” What I see makes me desirous of never being wealthy.”
The piece, published in Vox in 2015, compared her affluent customers’ lives to her own, much like Alex did of her clients on Fisher Island in Maid. Land’s memoir, Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive, became a New York Times bestseller four years after the essay went viral.
The land still resides in Montana with her 14-year-old daughter Story and her 9-year-old daughter. They reside with Land’s husband, Tim Faust, and Keats’s dog.
She is presently working on her next book, Class, which will be published next year and is about the American higher education system. Maid fans may have another limited series to look forward to from Stephanie Land in the coming years.
