What is Capgras syndrome? ‘Phony’ creator reveals real-life inspiration behind Hulu show

Hulu's highly anticipated comedy-mystery series 'Phony' released its first two episodes, and viewers already have questions. The biggest one is: What is Capgras syndrome? According to Cleveland Clinic, Capgras Syndrome is a kind of delusional misidentification condition where the patient begins thinking a family member or close friend is an imposter. Something similar happens to Sonny (Sam Nivola) in the Hulu series.

Sonny is a teenager who is extremely close to his mother, Ellen (Connie Britton). They spend a lot of time together because Ellen is also his school principal. Sonny's life takes an unexpected turn when he crashes his car on his way to meet his girlfriend. After waking up, he finds that his mother has suddenly changed. The differences are subtle but unnerving. Soon, he concludes that an imposter has taken Ellen's place.

The show does not reveal whether Sonny is correct, but the situation grows increasingly dangerous as a dead body is seen being dragged back into the woods. Only his former crush Mallory (Grace Brennan), eccentric cousin Weldon (Colter Lee), and private investigator Sharla seem to believe his bizarre theory. Sonny could be experiencing something similar to Capgras syndrome. Show creator Nick Paley told TV Insider that even though he knew about the condition, it did not inspire the show's premise. “I read about Capgras right around the time that I was starting to work on this, but the emotional core of it felt like it was rooted for me so much in this phobia that I was going to lose my mom when I was a kid,” he explained.

“I was in first grade, and I would be like crying, not wanting her to drive, because I was like, ‘Driving is the most dangerous thing you can do,'” the creator explained. “Anytime she was late, I would just like assume something horrible happened, and so that core fear was part of the origination of the idea. But Capgras, I certainly read about and was like, oh, that’s a really compelling, emotional, and interesting, horrible syndrome, truly horrible.” However, Paley did not rule out the possibility that Sonny suffers from Capgras syndrome or another condition. It is also possible that he is just imagining that his mother was replaced overnight. To find out the truth about Ellen’s identity, viewers can tune in to Hulu every Tuesday for new episodes.