Apple Cider Vinegar: Kaitlyn Dever tackles wellness culture in Netflix's limited series

Apple cider vinegar isn't just a sour-tasting liquid used for health and salad dressings anymore. In 2025, Netflix debuts its new true crime limited series Apple Cider Vinegar starring Emmy Award and Golden Globe-nominated actress Kaitlyn Dever.

Back in December 2023, Apple Cider Vinegar was first announced to be in the works at Netflix by Deadline, and less than one year later, the limited series is being prepped for release. With a talented leading star attached and a memorable title, it's primed to be a huge hit.

Looking for information about Apple Cider Vinegar, including its release window, true story-inspired premise, cast list, and teaser trailer? We're sharing everything prospective viewers need to know about the true crime limited series before it hits our watch lists!

While Netflix hasn't shared the official release date, The Hollywood Reporter reveals that the series will be released in early 2025, and What's on Netflix suggests the miniseries could drop in February. That release timeframe makes sense given Netflix dropped the scammer true crime limited series Inventing Anna back in February 2022 and it became a massive success. We'll share the release date when it's announced by Netflix.

Synopsis

Apple Cider Vinegar borrows its story from the book The Woman Who Fooled the World, which tells the true story of wellness scammer Belle Gibson, who lied about being diagnosed with cancer in order to create an online empire. She sold her followers lies that their medical ailments could be solved or at least managed with alternative remedies and nutrition habits.

The series takes an incisive look at Belle's lies and fraudulent activity on social media while also telling the overlapping stories of the people who were buying into her content as a "wellness influencer." It's layered exploration of information dissemination, social media literacy, and truth in the rise of the digital age, a problem that unfortunately persists still to this day.

Here's how Netflix describes the series in its official synopsis:

"Set at the birth of Instagram, Apple Cider Vinegar follows two young women who set out to cure their life-threatening illnesses through health and wellness, influencing their global online communities along the way. All of which would be incredibly inspiring if it were all true. This is a true-ish story based on a lie, about the rise and fall of a wellness empire; the culture that built it up and the people who tore it down."

Apple Cider Vinegar was created by Samantha Strauss, a writer known for her work on the Hulu"s Nicole Kidman-led series Nine Perfect Strangers and the Australian drama series The End. In a conversation with Netflix's Queue magazine, Strauss opened up about the concept for the series' themes as well as the meaning behind its catchy title:

"It’s interesting to look at how media uses food as a weapon against us and how much we crave the nourishment, but how much of a privilege and how expensive it is to try to be well. [With the title,] I wanted something that would capture this idea of hope in a bottle and that could be a bigger umbrella than something that would relate only to Belle."

Samantha Strauss, creator

Cast and teaser

The series is led by the expertly talented Kaitlyn Dever, who previously starred in the Netflix limited series Unbelievable, which earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film. Dever's also well known for her work in Last Man Standing, Booksmart, Dopesick, Ticket to Paradise, and the upcoming second season of HBO's The Last of Us.

Apple Cider Vinegar's cast also features leading roles from Alycia Debnam-Carey, who's best known for her performances in The CW's hit series The 100 as well as AMC's Fear the Walking Dead, and The Bold Type star Aisha Dee. Both actresses are Australian while Dever is an American delivering an amazing Australian accent. (See for yourself in the teaser below!)

Netflix's Tudum reveals the full series cast list:

• Kaitlyn Dever as Bell Gibson
• Alycia Debnam-Carey as Milla Blake
• Aisha Dee as Chanelle
• Told Cobham-Hervey as Lucy
• Mark Coles Smith as Lucy's husband
• Ashley Zuckerman as Clive
• Susie Porter
• Matt Nable
• Phoenix Raei
• Chai Hansen
• Richard Davies
• Essie Davis
• Kieran Darcy-Smith
• Catherine McClements

On Nov. 17, Netflix unveiled a number of first-look photos and the first footage from the series. The teaser trailer introduces us to the intriguing world of Apple Cider Vinegar and the scams of Belle Gibson. After watching the trailer, you not going to want to miss what could surely be one of the biggest Netflix limited series of 2025. Watch the teaser trailer and get hooked!

Stay tuned for more news and updates from Netflix Life!