Is Mia Healey Dating Her ‘The Wilds’ Co-star Erana James?

The Wilds premiered in December 2020 on Amazon Prime Video and returned for the second season on May 13, 2022. 

The initial 10-part series follows a group of high school students from different backgrounds who are forced into survival mode after being stranded on a mysterious island following a plane crash. 

The trauma they endured from being lost in the middle of nowhere leads to conflict. 

But as they learned more about each other, they struck up a friendship, and some even ended up falling for each other, like Erana James' Toni and Mia Healey's Shelby.

Fans quickly gravitated toward their sweet romance plotline, with some wondering if they were dating in real life. 

Mia Healey and Erana James Dating 

In a fan edit compilation video uploaded by alexa edits on YouTube, the duo was captured talking to each other on Instagram Live a few times. 

During an IG Live, a fan asked them if they were in love in real life.

"Maybe a little," Healey answered after a pause, and then James replied, "I love you, I do," to which Healey said, "You better! I love you in real life," which elicited laughter from James.

In another IG live, the duo opened up about how they met and their characters dating on the show. 

The co-stars met in 2018 during Healey's birthday. She was vaping when James asked her if she could borrow the pen after mistakingly assuming the vape was a pen. 

Mia Healey and Erana James kissing on 'The Wilds.' (Source: Mia Healey/Instagram)

Healey clarified it was a vape, and maybe it was the tone in her voice, but James did not have a good first impression of her. 

However, they became good friends later on. They also shared they did not know their characters would end up falling for each other. 

"No, we didn't know. But when we found out we were super, super excited. We wanted to work together as much as possible, so it was great," Healey answered. 

Mia Healey and Erana James' Friendship

It seems like the actors are just friends and not dating off-screen because, in another interview, they revealed something about Healey messaging a boy. 

During an interview with Prime Video, the cast of The Wilds played a game where they had to share and explain what photo, text, or DM they landed on while scrolling through their phones.

When it was James' turn, she told a funny story about Healey using her phone to message a guy to let him know she could not reply to his texts because her phone was broken.  

Even though fans who are shipping them might be disappointed about them not dating, the good news is the actors are good friends. 

"Forming my relationship with Toni was very easy because Erana and myself are very good friends off camera, which is very lucky that we have that natural chemistry already. We got our own place and lived together and the whole time we were filming the first season," Healey told CinemaBlend. 

She added they would come home after the shoot and bounce off ideas for their characters and scenes. 

They would have open conversations about how they felt about each other's characters and ensure they were physically connected. 

That friendship has helped them create sizzling chemistry on-screen.