Latest news with #FionnWhitehead
Geek Tyrant
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Netflix Removes BLACK MIRROR: BANDEERSNATCH From Streaming and Pulls the Plug on Its Interactive Era — GeekTyrant
Netflix has confirmed that Black Mirror: Bandersnatch , the genre-defying interactive choose-your-own-adventure movie, is being removed from the platform on May 12, 2025. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. The Reverend , the quirky choose-your-own-adventure follow-up to the hit comedy series, will also vanish on that date. With their departure, Netflix officially closes the book on its short-lived experiment with interactive storytelling. Back when Bandersnatch dropped in late 2018, it was an ambitious standalone Black Mirror experience that starred Fionn Whitehead and Will Poulter and gave viewers control over the narrative, branching into multiple endings across 312 minutes of total footage. The series was described as a 'mind-bending tale with multiple endings,' and the story followed a young programmer in 1984 who begins adapting a fantasy novel written by a deranged author into a video game. As reality fractures, the viewer guides him through choices that determine how—and if—he survives the psychological spiral. After the release, Netflix was all-in on the format. Todd Yellin, then Netflix's VP of product, said the company planned to 'double down' on interactive content. But that push quietly faded away. Yellin left in 2022, and now the final remnants of that experiment are getting scrubbed. A Netflix spokesperson explained that the technology used in Bandersnatch 'served its purpose, but is now limiting as we focus on technological efforts in other areas.' And where exactly is Netflix pointing its tech efforts now? Games. The streamer has gone all-in on building a game portfolio. Its recently revamped TV interface now features playable games on smart TVs, including Too Hot to Handle 3 and Oxenfree —an 'interactive story' you control with your phone. So, interactivity isn't completely dead, but the choose-your-own-movie format as we knew it is getting retired. As for Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. The Reverend , that one dropped in 2020 as a farewell to the sitcom's four-season run. The description read: 'Kimmy's getting married, but first she has to foil the Reverend's evil plot. It's your move: What should she do next?' In the original announcement, co-creator Tina Fey said the interactive finale 'will be a great way to officially complete the series.' Now, ironically, both projects that were once billed as 'the future of television' are being quietly deleted. Source: Variety
Digital Trends
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Digital Trends
Netflix is pulling its last two interactive specials off the platform
It's the end of an era at Netflix. According to the What's On Netflix website, the streamer is set to pull the last two interactive specials it created from the platform, officially ending the company's experimentation with that kind of storytelling. Those final two interactive specials, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend will both disappear from the streamer on May 12. Interactive content has slowly been disappearing from streaming services since it was first introduced in 2017, and while the streaming service has not offered any comment on these last disappearances, they are now refocusing their efforts on more explicit gaming offerings. Recommended Videos Bandersnatch is probably the most well-known example of interactive content, and stars Fionn Whitehead, Will Poulter and Craig Parkinson and follows a young programmer adapting a fantasy book into a video game in the 1980s. The episode was a choose-your-own-adventure-style story and featured a number of different endings depending on the path you took to get there. The removal of Bandersnatch is strangely timed, as it comes just a month after the seventh season of Black Mirror debuted 'Plaything,' a pseudo-sequel to Bandersnatch that features the return of Poulter. Because these titles require specific hosts to use their unique, playable features, it seems unlikely that we'll see them pop up anywhere else. Like so much of what eventually disappears from Netflix, it's hard to know whether it will pop up in any format in the future. Given that they can't just release these specials on DVD, it seems like it might be the end of the line for them.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Why the groundbreaking ‘Black Mirror: Bandersnatch' is disappearing from Netflix
It's the end of the road for choose-your-own-adventure programming at Netflix, and there's no rewinding to pick another path. 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. More from GoldDerby 'A fever dream': Jamie Lloyd and Tom Francis describe their radical new take on 'Sunset Boulevard' Sam Reid, Mark Johnson, and the 'Interview With the Vampire' team sink their teeth into FYC season How the casting director for 'Adolescence' discovered Owen Cooper for the emotional lead role of Jamie: 'The search was far and wide' 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. SIGN UP for Gold Derby's free newsletter with latest predictions Best of GoldDerby 'I've never been on a show that got this kind of recognition': Katherine LaNasa on 'The Pitt's' success and Dana's 'existential crisis' How Charlie Cox characterizes Matt Murdock through action scenes in 'Daredevil: Born Again' 'Agatha All Along' star Joe Locke on learning from Kathryn Hahn, musical theater goals, and the 'Heartstopper' movie with Kit Connor Click here to read the full article.
Gizmodo
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
You Have Just a Few More Days to Explore Black Mirror: Bandersnatch
It might be seen as irony that technology is the undoing of Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, given that Black Mirror stories tend to focus on the dangers of relying on technology. Though the 2018 special episode, which allowed viewers to plot their own journeys with the help of an on-screen pop-up menu, initially survived Netflix's purge of its interactive content, the time has now come to say good-bye. Variety reports that Bandersnatch will be leaving the streamer May 12, so if you want a last hurrah with aspiring video game creator Stefan Butler (Fionn Whitehead), you'd better make some time this weekend for it. Netflix's other lingering interactive special, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs the Reverend, will also be removed at the same time. Bandersnatch's departure from Netflix comes not long after the streamer debuted Black Mirror's seventh season, so it's not a mark against the series as a whole. Rather, the streamer is continuing its pivot away from what was once a big push into interactive programming. As Gizmodo noted in November 2024, and the Verge first reported, Netflix is focusing its technological explorations on games rather than narrative shows. To that end, a new game arrived to tie in with the new Black Mirror season: Thronglets, which replicates the terrifying, ever-needy, constantly expanding online ecosystem introduced in the episode 'Plaything.' And, speaking of the new Black Mirror season, if you get lonesome for Bandersnatch, a couple of its characters—including Will Poulter's eccentric and unstable game designer Colin Ritman—pop up in 'Plaything' as well.
The Verge
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Verge
May 7, 2025 at 11:29 AM EDT
Wes Davis Hugh Laurie will do crime in a new Apple TV Plus show. The Wanted Man will see Laurie play Felix Carmichael, the 'elusive and powerful head of notorious British crime syndicate 'The Capital,' according to Apple's press release. After going to prison, Carmichael learns he's been betrayed, and so decides to try to escape to exact revenge. The show comes from George Kay, who also created the Idris Elba-starring Hijack. The Wanted Man 's other stars include Thandiwe Newton, Fionn Whitehead, and Gina McKee. Apple TV+ announces new thriller 'The Wanted Man,' starring Hugh Laurie [
