Why the groundbreaking ‘Black Mirror: Bandersnatch' is disappearing from Netflix
On May 12, the streamer will remove Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2018) and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend (2020). Both of these interactive TV specials empowered viewers to choose different paths to essentially create their own narrative.
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In November 2024, a Netflix rep told The Verge that it was removing all of its choose-your-own-adventure projects, which at that time numbered 24 unique titles. As of Friday, only Bandersnatch and Kimmy vs. the Reverend remain on the company's "interactive specials" page, but not for long.
"The technology served its purpose, but is now limiting as we focus on technological efforts in other areas," Netflix spokesperson Chrissy Kelleher said last year.
In 2019, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch won a pair of Emmy Awards — for Best TV Movie and Best Creative Achievement in Interactive Media Within a Scripted Program. The plot followed a young programmer, Stefan Butler (Fionn Whitehead), who was adapting a fantasy book into a video game in 1984, with the help of gaming expert Colin Ritman (Will Poulter). Poulter returned to Black Mirror this year as the same character in the "Plaything" episode.
Bandersnatch included more than five hours of material, although the average time for a user to make it through the entire story was about 90 minutes. Because there were 150 minutes of unique footage divided into 250 segments, there were more than 1 trillion possible paths that viewers could take. It was written by series creator Charlie Brooker and directed by David Slade.
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend served as the wrap-up movie to the 2015-19 comedy series created by Tina Fey and Robert Carlock. The interactive telefilm included multiple paths and alternate endings, and it received two Emmy nominations, for Best TV Movie and Best Limited/Movie Supporting Actor for Tituss Burgess.
Star Ellie Kemper returned as Kimmy Schmidt, a former mole woman who's now a bestselling author, as she plans her wedding to Prince Frederick (Daniel Radcliffe) and uncovers a secret bunker started by the Rev. Richard Wayne Gary Wayne (Jon Hamm). Fey previously called it "a great way to officially complete the series." It was written by Fey, Carlock, Meredith Scardino, and Sam Means, and directed by Claire Scanlon.
At the same time that Netflix is halting its efforts with this particular choose-your-own-adventure format, the streamer is ramping up its games portfolio. The TV homepage was even recently redesigned to feature games that can be played on-screen by using your cell phone as the controller.
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