If you have watched Netflix‘s ‘A Man on Inside‘, you’ve probably had that same curious feeling the rest of us did. The story feels just a little too unique to be completely made up. An older man going undercover in a nursing home? A private investigator specifically looking for someone between 75 and 85 years old? It seems too realistic to be all fictional.
And, turns out, viewers weren’t wrong to think so. The real inspiration behind the show is just as fascinating as the fictional version. Even though it’s not the exact same story, the heart of the series absolutely comes from an iconic documentary.
‘A Man On The Inside’ Has A Truly Wild Inspiration
‘A Man on Inside‘ is largely inspired by the 2020 documentary ‘The Mole Agent‘, which made a huge splash at Sundance and even earned an Oscar nomination. That documentary followed Sergio Chamy, who was 83 at the time and became an undercover investigator for a private detective agency in Chile. The real story started when a client hired private eye Rómulo Aitken because she suspected her mother was being mistreated in a senior facility.
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Instead of going in himself, Aitken recruited Chamy to move into the retirement home as a resident and observe what was happening from the inside. Now, this is where the show and reality split a bit. Sergio wasn’t chasing a missing necklace like Ted Danson’s character, Charles. He was looking for signs of elder abuse.
And while he had the heart for the job, the documentary’s director, Maite Alberdi, said he was technically “the worst spy in the world” because he had trouble with simple things, like learning to use a cellphone. But despite that, he built genuine connections with the residents and became someone they trusted quickly.
In the end, Sergio found that the client’s mother was actually being treated well. But he also shared something even more emotional, that the biggest issue he noticed wasn’t cruelty, but loneliness. This documentary eventually caught the attention of Michael Schur, the creator of ‘The Good Place‘. He said in an interview that the show gave him a chance to talk about aging, which he felt people often avoid discussing even though it’s something “we get to experience if we’re lucky.”
‘The Mole Agent’ And ‘A Man on the Inside’ Parallels
Schur didn’t try to copy ‘The Mole Agent‘ directly. Instead, he used the core idea of an older man posing as an undercover resident in a retirement home and built a fictional comedy around it. So in the show, Ted Danson plays Charles, a widower who has lost his spark after retiring. His daughter Emily keeps nudging him to find something new to do. And that’s when he spots a very unusual job ad.
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The ad comes from Julie, a private investigator played by Lilah Richcreek Estrada. She doesn’t want a young assistant; she needs someone between 75 and 85 years old, which immediately grabs Charles’ attention. He takes the job and heads undercover at the Pacific View Retirement Residence in San Francisco, where he has to solve the mystery of a missing heirloom: a priceless necklace.
While promoting the show, Danson said he hopes it reminds people that life doesn’t stop after retirement. He explained that older adults shouldn’t “call it quits” or start winding down just because of age, and said the world still needs them.
So yes, ‘A Man on the Inside‘ is based on a true story, just not in the exact way you might expect. The show takes creative liberties, but its core comes straight from Sergio’s real experience. Season 2 of ‘A Man on the Inside‘ drops on Nov. 20, 2025. So, if you haven’t watched Season 1 yet, now is the best time to check it off your watchlist.
