It’s been 14 years since the last revival of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone, but it’s finally coming back…just not in the way that anyone expected.
According to The Wrap, CBS and Interlude are resurrecting The Twilight Zone as a fusion of gaming and television. Confused? So are we. But here’s we know so far. BioShock creator Ken Levine is on board to write and direct the first episode of the new Twilight Zone.
The gaming component of The Twilight Zone will allow viewers to make decisions about the direction of the story that affect the narrative. Yes, it’s basically a “Choose-your-own-adventure.” Here’s why that may not necessarily be true to Serling’s vision of The Twilight Zone. The original incarnation of The Twilight Zone from the late ’50s was a sci-fi anthology series that is famous for its twist endings. But it was a collection of morality tales. The Twilight Zone wasn’t a horror series where good people suffered for no reason. Most of the time, the characters deserved their fates or they managed to change themselves and charted a new course for their lives. Essentially, the events of the episodes had the potential to make the lead characters into better people or watch them suffer for their hubris.
If the new Twilight Zone abandons that aspect of the original series then it would be no different than any of the sci-fi anthology shows that imitated the original Twilight Zone. The nightmare scenario is that one of sci-fi’s most cerebral franchises would become The Twilight Zone in name only, and more like an interactive Final Destination.
Levine is legitimately a great writer, so it’s possible that this revival will turn out just fine. But what do you think about the new Twilight Zone? Share your thoughts with us in the comment section below!
