Triptych true story: The real events that inspired the Netflix thriller

The trailer for the series teased that it was "inspired by actual events", although this is a rather generous use of the frequently seen tagline as much of the show is entirely fictional.

However, there is one particularly famous case of triplets being separated at birth which appears to have lit the spark that set this story into motion. Read on for the true story behind Triptych on Netflix.

Triptych true story

According to Netflix's own TUDUM, the creative team behind Triptych haven't been explicit about what "actual events" fuelled the creation of their twisty thriller – but one source of inspiration is obvious.

The story of forensics examiner Rebecca (Maite Perroni), who discovers well into adulthood that she is secretly a triplet, mirrors the extraordinary real case of brothers Eddy Galland, David Kellman and Bobby Shafran.

They were the subjects of 2018 documentary Three Identical Strangers, which chronicled how they had been separated at birth as part of a scientific study which aimed to study the role of nature versus nurture in human development.

As identical triplets, all three men had the same genetics but their childhoods were quite different, with one raised in a working class home, another going to middle class parents and the third to a particularly affluent family.

Those conducting the research checked in on how their lives were progressing over many years, without informing the adoptive parents of the other siblings or the full nature of the study.

Their lives converged entirely by chance, with Shafran and Galland meeting on the campus of a New York community college and easily gaining press attention with their rare reconnection.

The resulting publicity brought them to the attention of Kellman, who later tracked them down himself to reveal that they weren't just unknowing twins, but triplets.

Though utterly remarkable, the story took a tragic turn in 1995 when Galland committed suicide after struggling with mental health issues for many years.

The story of Triptych bears little resemblance to that of Three Identical Strangers, besides the broad premise of an individual discovering they have identical siblings.

The writers of the show have crafted a largely fictitious story around this idea, adding elements akin to a conspiracy thriller and even glimmers of fantasy to distinguish it as a standalone drama.

Triptych is available to stream on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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