Black Mirror to offer choose-your-own-adventure

Season 5 of Black Mirror is due to be released in December and Netflix is planning an interactive element that will allow viewers to make key decisions for a protagonist that determines their dystopian fate.

Netflix has already released a handful of episodes of choose-your-own-adventure animated programs designed for kids. Within the first couple minutes of Puss in Book, the viewer must choose whether the the hero fights a god or a tree. After watching one version, the viewer can go back and choose the alternate scenario.

The stories that branch off from the main narrative of Black Mirror are set to be more complex than the options in the kids’ programming, though it remains to be seen just how complicated the show will be.

As Netflix expands around the world, it’s looking for new ways to lure new customers. By blending elements of video games with traditional television, it could create a formula that can be applied to any number of series. Reports suggest it has closed a deal for at least one more live-action project, and is negotiating the rights to others.

HBO, one of Netflix’s fiercest rivals, released its first interactive TV show earlier this year. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, the longer version of Mosaic was available in a separate app.

Source: Bloomberg