Member-only story
Is Leanne Grayson Actually a Saint?
Demystifying M. Night Shyamalan’s Servant
I am a big fan of Servant, a surreal, visually breathtaking horror series that has just returned for a second season on the Apple TV+ streaming platform. Like other fans of the show, which is produced by renowned filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan, I have spent some time since the end of the first season attempting to come up with an explanation for the show’s numerous unresolved mysteries.
In this article, I will try to resolve what is perhaps the biggest unanswered question that audiences have had following the conclusion of the program’s first season: “Who is Leanne Grayson?”
Many theories surround the mysterious nanny (Nell Tiger Free) that has come into the lives of Sean Turner (Toby Kebbell) and his wife Dorothy (Lauren Ambrose). Rejecting the popular belief that she might be a witch or a psychopath, I instead posit that Leanne is actually a saint. That is, she is a divine being that had been born as a normal human before dying and ascending to heaven.
In order to substantiate this claim, I will first outline the characteristics and qualities that are typically associated with saints in the context of Catholicism. Afterwards, in the three sections that follow, I will provide an in-depth analysis of the show’s narrative, citing textual evidence to illustrate how…
