Truth behind whether Amy Bradley inspired new Netflix cruise ship disappearance mystery

A new Netflix drama starring Keira Knightley has led fans to compare the film to the disappearance of Amy Bradley, questioning whether it inspired the movie.

The disappearance of Amy Bradley re-entered the public consciousness earlier this year after Netflix released a documentary, Amy Bradley is Missing.

Amy was a 23-year-old American girl who went missing off a Royal Caribbean cruise ship in 1998. The documentary led to several people re-examining the case, with many believing she is still alive to this day, but with no concrete answer ever being given as to what actually happened.

For people who became fascinated with her case, however, a new Keira Knightley movie Netflix has brought out, The Woman in Cabin 10, will bear a striking resemblance.

Why would people link The Woman in Cabin 10 to Amy Bradley’s disappearance?

Amy Bradley, who went missing in 1998 (Netflix)

The Woman in Cabin 10 follows a journalist who becomes convinced that she saw a woman overboard. Once she goes to report it, however, it is denied, with no proof that anyone is missing.

The journalist, played by Knightley, then risks her life to try to find the truth. The link to Bradley is therefore slightly obvious, with the American woman having disappeared off a cruise ship in the middle of the night, and many believe she fell off the side.

The Tab has recently linked the two, saying Netflix has ‘another Cruise Ship mystery,’ and Harper's Bazaar pointed to the documentary as an appropriate watch while waiting for the film to release.

This will lead many viewers to wonder whether the two are actually linked.

Is The Woman in Cabin 10 inspired by the disappearance of Amy Bradley?

As far as we know, The Woman in Cabin 10 has no real connection to Bradley beyond the coincidental timing of its release shortly after a viral documentary.

The film, based on a 2016 book, has no explicit references to Bradley, and the book’s author, Ruth Ware, has never referred to the 1998 controversy.

Ware spoke about how she got the idea when on a cruise herself, recognising how isolating it made her feel.

She said in an interview with Elle that she combined this with her feelings about stories about women ‘whose word was not taken at face value’, saying: “It seemed to me that if you were a woman, you were further down the scale in the hierarchy.

“If you were a young woman, you were even further down.

“If you are a young drunk woman, you were right at the bottom in terms of whether people would believe you.”

Ware also stated that she was inspired by an article about how dangerous cruise ships can be.

Whilst this may have included Bradley’s case, there are several other high-profile cases of women disappearing off cruise ships.

The Netflix adaptation of the novel deals with this, however, not particularly well if you go by reviews, with the film sitting at 21 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.

The Woman in Cabin 10 is available to stream on Netflix now.