In brief
- Netflix’s removal of Black Mirror: Bandersnatch has sparked backlash, with over 6,500 signatures on a petition to preserve the interactive episode.
- Critics say the move represents “digital erasure” and the quiet retirement of Netflix’s Branch Manager engine, which powered its interactive content.
- Preservation advocates argue the episode is a milestone in streaming and digital media history, urging Netflix to archive or re-release it on gaming platforms.
When Netflix quietly announced plans to remove “Bandersnatch”—the groundbreaking interactive episode from Black Mirror—futurist and journalist Katie Schultz launched a campaign to preserve what she calls a pivotal moment in streaming history.
Outraged at what she saw as the quiet erasure of a significant chapter in streaming innovation, Schultz launched a Change.org petition to preserve Bandersnatch—and within days, it gathered more than 6,500 signatures from show supporters.
“This isn’t just about saving a show or whether people liked it,” Schultz told Decrypt in an interview. “This is about history, and a chapter in technology and media, and how significant it is.”
The end of an era
Netflix introduced interactive video media in December 2018 with Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, a milestone that let viewers make real-time choices shaping the story’s outcome. Inspired by 1980s Choose Your Own Adventure books, the episode used Netflix’s proprietary Branch Manager engine to deliver a nonlinear narrative.
Netflix’s Branch Manager engine visualizes, manages, and streamlines the creation and editing of complex interactive narratives by allowing creators to map out story branches, test viewer choices, and ensure seamless transitions between segments.
The streaming giant later expanded its Branch Manager engine beyond Bandersnatch, powering interactive experiences like Minecraft: Story Mode and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend.
Despite the medium’s popularity, Netflix announced in November 2024 that it would sunset its interactive content.
On Monday, Netflix finally removed Bandersnatch, ending its interactive push and making way for generative AI. Schultz argued that this removal is part of a broader pattern of “digital erasure.”
“When they took Bandersnatch down, they didn’t just take a show offline. They took down the engine that powered it, too,” she said. “So that means that Netflix has retired, not only a show, but they retired an entire chapter of digital media history.”
Fan responses fueled by frustration
Launched on May 8, Schultz’s petition quickly gained traction among fans, many of whom were blindsided by the news that Bandersnatch was being removed.
“Some people say audiences today don’t have the attention span for something like Bandersnatch—that it’s too complex or overwhelming with all its choices. But I don’t think that’s true,” she said. “I’ve seen people say they’ve canceled their Netflix subscriptions over this,” she said, pointing to angry Reddit posts.
“This is absurd, Bandersnatch is such a marvel in terms of art, storytelling, and technology,” one Redditor wrote. “I signed the petition and I’ll be (mournfully) watching it again tomorrow…. potentially for the last time. This is a massive failure on Netflix’s part. Shame on them.”
“Welp, after this, I have officially given up on Netflix. This morning, I had officially deleted the app off of my phone,” another Reddit user wrote. “The interactives helped better my experience on Netflix over the years, and with them gone, what reason do I have to be on Netflix for any longer? Farewell, Netflix, you used to be cool.”
While the comments reflect the frustration felt by a segment of the audience that enjoyed Netflix’s experimentation with interactive formats, Schultz believes the broader public is only beginning to realize the implications of media that can vanish with a push of a button.
A push for preservation
While the petition to save Bandersnatch is rooted in nostalgia and childhood memories of Choose Your Own Adventure books and text-based games, Schultz said the stakes today are much higher.
“We’ve already lost so much media due to hardware obsolescence and poor archival practices,” she said. “I want to see Bandersnatch preserved or archived by a cultural institution so future generations can experience it. I want this period of interactive video history to get its flowers.”
Scott Reinhart, Schultz’s collaborator and a fellow preservation advocate, drew comparisons to classic lost media like the ill-fated E.T. video game for Atari.
“The E.T. game was buried in a landfill and covered in concrete,” Reinhart said.
In September 1983, video game publisher Atari buried hundreds of thousands of unsold video game cartridges—including the notoriously poor-selling E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial—in a New Mexico landfill.
Urban legend claims concrete was poured over the landfill to deter people from scavenging for the game.
Unlike E.T., which may or may not have been buried under concrete, Schultz and Reinhart fear Bandersnatch will quietly vanish into a server, lost forever.
Netflix’s proprietary hold on the Branch Manager technology is stifling future innovation, according to Reinhart.
“If they retain patent rights and don’t license it, they’re preventing future developers from creating immersive media experiences,” he said. “They’re eliminating an entire branch of multimedia experiences by blocking others from using it.”
Schultz emphasized that the true depth of Bandersnatch’s interactive design goes far beyond what most viewers have ever experienced.
“There are endings that have never been unlocked, cut content that will never be seen, and endings that might never be found,” she said. All of this could be gone forever, so my priority is to see Bandersnatch, its related interactive videos, and the Branch Manager engine preserved and archived.”
Netflix has not released a comprehensive version of the episode outside of its platform. While a DVD version exists, it plays linearly, stripped of its interactive core. For fans to have the full intended experience, Schultz and Reinhart hope Bandersnatch will see new life on a gaming service.
“I’m asking Netflix to consider re-releasing the content on their gaming platform or handing it over to a third party like Steam,” she said.
Cultural accountability
While Schultz acknowledged that Netflix is not legally obligated to preserve Bandersnatch, she believes a moral and cultural imperative is at stake.
“Yes, Netflix owns it, but there’s a responsibility, especially with something novel they created, to share it as a cultural landmark for future generations,” she said. “People should care because this isn’t just about saving a show. It’s not about whether people liked it or not. It’s about history, and a significant chapter in technology and media.”
Reinhart echoed the sentiment, stressing that preservation is more than about storage or who owns the content.
“A better option is to make it a formal video game and preserve it on physical media like a DVD or digital release,” Reinhart said, pointing to his work repairing VCRs and other outdated hardware formats. “We’re racing against time to give decaying artifacts new life.”
However, because Bandersnatch in its interactive form was streamed online, Reinhart fears it won’t get that chance.
“There’s no magnetic media—just Netflix’s platform,” he said. “Once it’s removed, there’s no clean, complete storyboard. Unseen parts will be lost—locked in a vault under some backup protocol, likely forgotten.”
Digital fork in the road
The case of Bandersnatch may be the first major public reckoning over the disappearance of interactive streaming content. But it likely won’t be the last, as intrepid programmers have looked for ways to preserve Bandersnatch, including a GitHub clone.
As Schultz noted, the direction Netflix and other tech giants are taking now could shape how future generations experience interactive storytelling—if they can experience it at all.
“In 2045, no one’s going to stumble upon Bandersnatch in a landfill or locker—it’ll be gone,” Schultz said.
Netflix did not respond to Decrypt’s request for comment.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
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