Ted Danson's character finds a new purpose in Netflix's A Man on the Inside -- much like the real-life man who inspired the sitcom.
Created by Michael Schur, the series follows Charles, a widower and retiree, who is hired by a private detective named Julie (Lilah Richcreek Estrada) and goes undercover at a local San Francisco nursing home to solve a theft.
If the comical plot sounds familiar, that's because it was largely inspired by the 2020 documentary The Mole Agent, which premiered at Sundance and garnered an Oscar nomination.
The film documented then-83-year-old Sergio Chamy as he infiltrated a Chilean retirement home to look for signs of elder abuse.
"I would say the purpose of this show is simply to discuss a subject that very few people discuss, which is aging. It's thought of in this country as something almost shameful or embarrassing," Schur said on CBS Sunday Morning. "I think that's weird. This is what happens if we're lucky. If we're lucky, we get old."
Now, Chamy's story is getting the Hollywood treatment via A Man on the Inside, which debuted on Nov. 21. Here's everything to know about the Netflix show and the real-life spy who inspired it.
A Man on the Inside tells the story of widower Charles (Danson) -- a man who has lost his luster for life since entering retirement. His daughter Emily (Mary Elizabeth Ellis) encourages him to find an exciting new adventure to embark upon, and that's when Charles stumbles across a wanted ad in the newspaper.
Meanwhile, private investigator Julie (Estrada) seeks an investigative assistant but isn't in the market to hire a young whippersnapper. Instead, she needs the help of a man between the ages of 75 and 85.
Charles jumps at the opportunity to become a spy, whose mission is to go undercover at the Pacific View Retirement Residence in San Francisco. While there, he must try to solve the mystery of a resident's missing family heirloom: a priceless necklace.
While speaking to PEOPLE ahead of the premiere, Danson said he hopes the series shows people "how to live" until the end.
"You can still do anything even at our age," he said. "Don't call it quits, don't wind down, keep going. The world needs you."
Yes! A Man on the Inside is based on the real-life story of widower Sergio Chamy, who at 83 years old, was hired by private eye Rómulo Aitken to go undercover as a resident at a nursing home in Chile, according to Los Angeles Times.
That said, Chamy wasn't trying to solve the mystery of a missing necklace. Aitken had been hired by a client who suspected her mother was being "mistreated" in the senior facility, and Chamy was tasked with looking for signs of patient mistreatment by staff.
His amateur spy journey was chronicled in the 2020 documentary The Mole Agent, which is currently available to stream on Netflix. In the end, Chamy discovered that the client's mom was being treated well and he made friends along the way. Before departing from the nursing home, though, he shared that his biggest finding was that residents experienced loneliness.
While documentary director Maite Alberdi told Deadline in 2021 that Chamy was objectively the "worst spy in the world" due to his technological inadequacies (he had to learn how to use a cell phone), he made up for it with his capacity to easily connect with the residents.
In an October 2024 interview with Tudum, Schur opened up about why he wanted to adapt the story for television. "I knew almost nothing about [The Mole Agent], and I just fell for it so hard," he said. "The hero, Sergio, is so wonderfully wrought, so real, just a lovely human being."
In December 2023, Chemy celebrated a milestone birthday and expressed his gratitude on social media.
"I want to thank each one of you for your messages and kind gestures [in honor of] my 90 years," he captioned a video of his special day in Spanish. "It's been a few days full of emotion and happiness. I'm very grateful for life."
A Man on the Inside is available to stream on Netflix starting on Nov. 21. Season 1 consists of eight episodes.