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.
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