Is Niles Blanderman from Atypical season 4 a real person?

After watching the fourth and final season of the Netflix original series Atypical, you were probably left wondering what exactly was real or what was an illusion after your tears dried.

Did Casey really go all ax-crazy on Sam’s bathroom door? Was there really a party thrown for a left testicle? Does Sam really go to Antarctica at the end of the series? If you had questions like these, don’t worry, you’re not the only one. But the question that surpasses them all would have to be if Niles Blanderman is actually a real person? And what was up with that weird dream?

We tell you everything to know, right here.

Warning: Spoilers for Atypical season 4 are up ahead!

Is Niles Blanderman a real person?

After doing some very necessary digging, we found that Niles Blanderman is not a real person. However, his story could have been drawn from actual people who visited Antarctica and weren’t fortunate to make it out alive. Though Niles isn’t a real person in real life, he is still very much real for Sam and represents the very real fear Sam has about going to the extremely icy continent.

In Atypical season 4, Sam constantly talks about Niles from a place of fear, explaining to his loved ones that this late traveler froze to death after going missing in the snowy land. In addition to this, Sam could not shake the fact that Niles died all alone, most likely after making such a small mistake. Because of this, Sam’s doubts manifested in his dreams, which is why he dreamt of Niles Blanderman doubting Sam and instilling even more fear in him.

Thankfully, Sam didn’t let his illusion of the dead Antarctica traveler get in his way of continuing to pursue his dream nor did he let Niles Blanderman make him think he was going to die all alone under the ice because of a mistake. After all, Sam eventually found out that Niles’ cause of death was partly because of a sprained ankle but mostly because he was all alone. Now that Sam has his father, Doug, traveling with him, he knows for sure that he won’t end up anything like Niles.

Niles Blanderman may not be real, but we sure are glad that Sam’s good friends and family are. Without them, we may have never seen Sam take on such a big dream and continue to inspire us all.

Be sure to catch the fourth and final season of Atypical streaming only on Netflix!