The events depicted on the latest Netflix juggernaut, Baby Reindeer, profess to be based on real life, which make them all the more shocking and binge-able — but the latest bit of real life drama from behind the camera isn't the sort of attention that creator Richard Gadd is looking for.

Gadd has been facing mounting questions surrounding his professional conduct after allegedly dating a transgender actress who auditioned for his show.

Deadline now reports that Gadd, the creator and star of the hit stalker series, has already been investigated and cleared of any wrongdoing by the production company behind Baby Reindeer, Clerkenwell Films.

What exactly are the accusations?

The behind the scenes drama started when transgender actress Reece Lyons took to social media after Baby Reindeer premiered with an accusation of impropriety against an unnamed creator of a Netflix show.

In the post, Lyons recounted the man — who Deadline has verified as Richard Gadd — approaching her at the bar of London’s Bush Theatre after she had performed her one-woman show Overflow.

“He began to tell me about his upcoming Netflix show that he had written,” Lyons explained. “The role in question was that of his ex-girlfriend, a trans woman.”

Gadd then informed Lyons that, regarding his ex-girlfriend, “I didn't treat her the best.”

Lyons was unclear about what this meant exactly, but “I told him I was interested in auditioning and asked him to get in touch with my agent.”

That's when a red flag was raised. “But there is one other thing,” Gadd said. “What?” Lyons replied. “I find you really attractive.”

Lyons highlights her internal struggle with this confession in her X/Twitter post thread: “‘But you want me to audition to play your ex-girlfriend who you mistreated, and date you at the same time?!' I thought.”

Lyons then read the play that Baby Reindeer is based on to learn more about the project, and clearly still had Gadd's personal disclosure on her mind while doing so. She wrote, “But what I found particularly troubling, were the ways in which he spoke about how he mistreated his trans ex-girlfriend, hiding her in secrecy, and the ways in which internalised transphobia and shame could coexist with desire.”

“‘Will he treat me like that?' I thought.”

Lyons further details that “the next week, he asked me out on a date, and I said yes.”

“I was mindful of the overlap between the upcoming audition and the romantic invitation,” she continues, “but I knew I needed to ask him more questions.”

On the date, Lyons told Gadd tentatively, “I think you have a tendency to fetishize trans women.”

“Suddenly, I was met with an intense and emotionally dysregulated reaction,” she explains. “He was highly defensive and dismissive towards any observations I had to share with him.”

“Where is the person who spoke so bravely and candidly about his own psyche in his work?” Lyons wondered to herself.

“We left the date, and a week later I texted him to end things prematurely,” Lyons followed up. “I said that I didn’t think the conflation of the upcoming audition and dating each other at the same time was wise, and he said that he understood.”

However, Lyons then details that two weeks later Gadd called saying he wanted to try dating again.

Lyons explains her confliction about the proposal, “What if I say, no?”

“Does that mean he would feel slighted, and I wouldn’t get the chance to audition?” she questions. “I decided to say yes, and quickly found myself pulled back into his emotional chaos again.”

The life-imitating-art (or in this case, not imitating art) implications were not lost on Lyons during this time. “It astounded me how somebody who spoke so openly and poignantly within the context of his career about how a power dynamic with an older and more established writer quickly led to an abuse of power, and the devastating effects this had on him…” she began.

“Could then, in turn, become the very same person who recreated a strikingly similar power dynamic with me years later, where I found myself, ten years his junior, now auditioning for his show.”

Lyons ultimately did not get the role, which went instead to the Max series Generation actress Nava Mau. Gadd called Lyons to deliver the news that she didn't book the part.

“‘Your audition was exceptional,' he said as he consoled me over the phone. ‘But it’s out of my hands. Netflix is looking for somebody who’s already a star,'” Lyons' post continued.

“‘But what about us?' I asked him. ‘It’s not going to work. You’re too confrontational for me,'” Lyons quotes Gadd as saying to her. She added, “And that was it.”

Lyons is quick to note, “I want to clarify that I was not a victim of any type of ‘abuse'. But I do not think a label such as ‘abuse' should be a prerequisite for people coming forward and sharing their experiences.”

If the accusations are true, it does certainly blur the line between professional and personal life boundaries however, and is troublingly reminiscent of many actresses' casting experiences disclosed during the #MeToo movement.

Is anyone commenting on the accusations?

Gadd declined to comment to Deadline on the subject, and Lyons chose not to comment beyond her X/Twitter thread.

The article does report however, “Deadline understands that Clerkenwell Films investigated Lyons’ comments after she made the company aware of her April 16 posts on X. Gadd had not previously disclosed the romantic liaison to Clerkenwell.”

As for what Clerkenwell Films' investigation detailed, Deadline says “Lyons was not interviewed on the phone or in person as part of the investigation, with correspondence done in writing.”

Furthermore, “A Clerkenwell source said her account and other evidence was enough to conclude that Gadd behaved professionally and casting decisions were not compromised. The company remains in contact with Lyons' agent.”

Deadline also reached out to Clerkenwell Films and Netflix, but neither the production company nor the streamer chose to comment for the article.

Baby Reindeer is about a struggling comedian loosely based on Gadd who becomes the target of a disturbed stalker. The show has been a massive and surprising hit for Netflix — already becoming its most-watched English-language TV show with 22 million viewers in less than a month of release.

The accusations of transgender actress Reece Lyons against Baby Reindeer creator and star Richard Gadd add another complicated layer to the intense “true story” drama already dealing with some challenging and abuse-centered themes on screen. Stay tuned to see if any of the other parties involved decide to elaborate on the allegations.