'Bioshock Infinite' Creator Ken Levine To Helm Interactive 'Twilight Zone' TV Series

There’s always a man. There’s always a city. There’s always an IP getting a reboot. Today that IP is Twilight Zone and that man is Bioshock’s own Ken Levine. This is not, of course, the first Twilight Zone reboot, and the news is a mixed bag, because Ken Levine is equal parts brilliant and flawed. But then again, so was the original Twilight Zone.

The lauded game creator says he’ll write and direct an interactive live-action film based on the classic sci-fi anthology series, “explor[ing] the spaces between movies and games.” Technology from the media company Interlude will allow viewers to determine what the characters do, probably leading to a twist at the end, just like in the show, and in Levine’s games.

Interlude garnered a lot of attention two years ago for its interactive Bob Dylan music video, which uses the same technology we’re expecting to see in the film.

For those outside of the gaming world, Ken Levine probably isn’t as divisive a figure, but for those in the know, this is a pretty dubious announcement. Levine’s work on the Bioshock series has been groundbreaking but, ethically complicated. Early criticism from social media notes Twilight Zone exists in a place between light and dark, and perhaps Levine’s heavy-handedness isn’t the best for channeling gray areas. One Twitter user summed it up quite well:

Interlude, which employs Her Story creator Sam Barlow as creative director and former Xbox Entertainment Studios head Nancy Tellem as chief media officer, has worked on various interactive projects in the past. Barlow has also said he and Interlude would be working on an interactive adaptation of WarGames, the 1983 film starring Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy.

Maybe we buried the most interesting part of this story. I mean, how bad do you want a WarGames interactive movie? This is how badly I want it right now: