'The Republic of Sarah' Tells a Fictional Tale of a Micronation

Published June 14 2021, 9:15 p.m. ET

The CW's newest drama show, The Republic of Sarah, has a concept that sounds both wild and potentially true. A small town in New Hampshire discovers it holds access to a vein of coltan, a very valuable mineral, only for the state to make plans to wipe the town off the map to capitalize on the finding. Instead, local high school teacher Sarah Cooper (Stella Baker) vows to stop the bulldozes — by making their small town its own nation.

The title is part of the CW's new roster of shows for this summer and is one of Stella's first regular TV show appearances following her roles in Tell Me Your Secrets and Highway One, both of which premiered this year.

The basis for the story is so crazy it's almost believable. Which poses the question: Is The Republic of Sarah based on a true story? Here's what we know about the origin of the show.

Is 'The Republic of Sarah' based on a true story?

Despite the wild premises for the show, The Republic of Sarah isn't necessarily rooted in truth — though it has a lot of themes that tend to hit close to home for our current political climate.

According to The Cinemaholic, much of the show deals with an anti-capitalist message, pointing out just how far corporate greed will go. It paints the mining company that wants to come in and take the coltan as the enemy.

It seems that despite the show being about building a nation from the ground up, it deals little with the practicalities of it. Reportedly, the show glosses over some of the impracticalities that come with creating your own nation.

The show's creator, Jeffrey Paul King, has also made no public comment about his inspiration for the show, though it's unlikely it's based on any one town in America. More than likely, The Republic of Sarah is solely a work of fiction.

There are quite a few micronations in America.

Despite The Republic of Sarah not being based on one true story, the idea of a small town being its own nation within the United States is actually real. There are multiple "micronations" across the U.S. that have lasted various lengths of time.

The most famous micronation is in Nevada on 6.3 acres just east of the state's capital city. The Republic of Molossia started back in 1977 by the sovereign nation's president Kevin Baugh.

The Republic of Molossia has been functioning for 40 years and while President Baugh claims that it's a "third world country" due to its lack of airports and highways, it has its own currency, official language, national anthem, bank, and post office. The sovereign nation also legalized same-sex marriage in 2002, six years before the rest of the U.S.

You can watch the season premiere of The Republic of Sarah on the CW on June 14 at 9 p.m. EST.

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