Based on the real life story of Cornelia Rau, an Australian woman who joined the cult KENJA (founded by Ken Dyers and Jan Hamilton as a "self help group"), and was detained for 10 months in a woman's prison and then in one of Australia's immigration detention camps (Baxter immigration center).
GOPA, the cult in the show is a combination of the founder's names, Gordon and Pat. The real life cult that GOPA is based on, KENJA, is a combination of its founder's names, Ken and Jan.
Despite playing an Afghan refugee, Faysal Bazzi is half Lebanese and half Syrian. He mentioned he would take the role "as long as there were Afghani people cast".