If you thought making decisions for a fictional character was difficult in Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, steel yourself for the challenge of making them for an actual human being.
Netflix on Monday announced the new live-action series You vs. Wild, which will follow the adventures of survival expert Bear Grylls as he traverses "dense jungles, towering mountains, brutal deserts and mysterious forests," per Deadline. But unlike Grylls' previous shows where he attempts to survive in the wilderness like Man vs. Wild, this one will be interactive, meaning viewers make decisions that guide where the episodes go.
Netflix's description of the show teases some "tough decisions" while adding that "whether or not Bear succeeds or fails is totally up to you." As Grylls himself told Variety: "The stakes are high in this one!"
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This is the latest example of interactive storytelling from Netflix after the success of Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, a movie released as part of the popular sci-fi anthology show. At various points during Bandersnatch, viewers are asked to pick one of two possible choices, and this causes the story to branch out in different directions and results in multiple potential endings, although some choices lead to dead ends. When it was released in December, The New York Times reported that Netflix planned for more pieces of interactive storytelling in genres "from horror to romantic comedy."
You vs. Wild is the streamer's next step, although while Bandersnatch was just one film, this is a full eight-episode series. It will be released on April 10. Watch a trailer below. Brendan Morrow
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