Netflix is quietly closing the chapter on its interactive content experiment. The streaming giant will remove its final interactive specials—Black Mirror: Bandersnatch and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend—from the platform on May 12.
These removals mark the end of an era for Netflix, which once pushed interactive storytelling as a way to differentiate itself. Now, the company appears to be shifting its focus toward mobile and cloud gaming, leaving behind the branch of interactive TV that Netflix itself helped popularize.
Bandersnatch And Kimmy Schmidt Interactive Specials Will Soon Be Gone
Bandersnatch, released in 2018, gave viewers a wildly creative choose-your-own-adventure experience inside the Black Mirror universe. Written by Charlie Brooker and starring Fionn Whitehead, the standalone episode became a cultural touchstone for what streaming storytelling could be.
Kimmy vs. the Reverend, on the other hand, was a surprise post-series interactive comedy from Tina Fey and Robert Carlock. Featuring the original Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt cast, the special let fans make choices as Kimmy battled to stop the Reverend and get to her wedding on time.
Both specials rely on Netflix’s interactive platform to function. That likely explains why Netflix won’t keep them around in any other form. Without interactive tech, these stories lose their core appeal—and in Bandersnatch’s case, may never truly have just one ending.
Interactive Content Is Being Phased Out As Netflix Pivots To Gaming
These removals come a few months after Netflix took down other interactive titles like Ranveer vs Wild and You vs. Wild. With only four interactive specials left as of late 2024, the slate is now completely wiped.
It's a clear sign of where Netflix is headed. Instead of branching into interactive TV, the company is investing in cloud and mobile gaming—a space where user interaction is built-in rather than experimental. Netflix has yet to comment on the removals, but the message is clear: interactive storytelling isn't part of the core strategy anymore.
Madonna Is Heading To Netflix In A New Limited Series
While Netflix is looking forward with gaming, it's also doubling down on big-name talent for its unscripted and scripted slates. The latest buzz? Madonna. The pop icon is reportedly the subject of a new limited series in development at Netflix, with Shawn Levy (21 Laps, Stranger Things) attached to executive produce and direct.
This project is separate from the scrapped biopic film that Universal was developing—one that starred Julia Garner and for which Madonna herself co-wrote the script. Despite the film’s cancellation, sources say Garner could still play Madonna in the Netflix series.
Julia Garner Could Reprise Her Role As Madonna
Deadline reports that the limited series is still in early stages, but the connection between Garner and Madonna remains strong. The actress’s link to the project is fueled not only by her past involvement with the film but also by her recent collaborations with Madonna on social media—and even appearances with the singer on tour.
Garner previously teased her ongoing involvement in a Madonna biopic in an Entertainment Tonight interview, leaving fans to speculate whether the Netflix series might absorb the film’s original plans.
Netflix’s Next Big Star May Be The Queen Of Pop Herself
Madonna’s involvement in the project suggests she’s determined to control how her story is told—a lesson she clearly took from her experience with the film version. As she put it in 2022, she didn’t want “misogynistic men” making movies about her. Now, she’s making one herself, or at least producing it.
Whether the series will cover her entire career, focus on her music, or explore her persona as a cultural force remains to be seen. But with Levy onboard and Madonna’s creative input assured, this could be one of Netflix’s most high-profile limited series in years.
What This Means For Netflix’s Future Content Strategy
Between retiring interactive experiments and greenlighting star-driven projects, Netflix is clearly refining what it wants to be. It’s moving away from gimmicks like Bandersnatch and toward prestige and personality—whether that’s through a pop queen’s life story or a gamer’s next mission in cloud-based play.
For fans, that means the interactive era on Netflix is officially over. But the era of Madonna on Netflix? That one might just be beginning.