Netflix is giving up the ghost when it comes to its interactive projects — and that includes the hit Black Mirror film that took the world by storm when it debuted on the platform in 2018. The streamer will remove Black Mirror: Bandersnatch from the service, alongside the interactive special Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. The Reverend, on May 12.
These two titles are the last interactive projects available on the platform, so it’s clear that this marks an end of an era for Netflix as far as trying to make this type of programming take off. This move also comes at a time when the streamer is attempting to push a gaming initiative. For example, Netflix recently announced a pivot to a freshly redesigned homepage on its TV apps that features playable games like Too Hot To Handle 3 with your phone as a controller, something it will undoubtedly chase if it gets some traction.
Netflix has seemingly been planning this move for quite some time, as it told The Verge in November 2024 that the tech used for those films “served its purpose, but is now limiting as we focus on technological efforts in other areas.” It removed all but four of its interactive titles by the beginning of December 2024 and will finally complete the takedown of all interactive projects soon.
Black Mirror: Bandersnatch was such a hit when it first hit the platform that it caused then-Vice President of Product Tom Yellen to commit to “[doubling] down” on interactive programming. The film starred Fionn Whitehead and Will Poulter in a choose-your-own-adventure style story that contained a cumulative 312 minutes of footage with multiple different possible endings. It centers around a young video game programmer in 1984 who is adapting a story written by a man who supposedly cut his wife’s head off, but his reality quickly starts to blur and shift. And now, you only have three more days to watch it before it disappears forever.
Image credit: Netflix.
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
