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Are you traumatised by what happens to Stefan in Bandersnatch? Star Fionn Whitehead has a message for you

Are you traumatised by what happens to Stefan in Bandersnatch? Star Fionn Whitehead has a message for you

Don’t feel too bad about all the awful things you force Stefan to do in Black Mirror's choose your own adventure movie

Huw Fullerton

Published: Monday, 14 January 2019 at 2:08 pm

It’s fair to say that Netflix’s interactive Black Mirror story Bandersnatch has caused a bit of a moral crisis among its users.

Many viewers have expressed horror on social media at the terrible actions they force lead character Stefan to carry out as part of the movie’s multiple-choice storyline.

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Throughout the film, depending on which path they take, viewers end up forcing Stefan into murder, chopping up body parts, attacking therapists and all sorts of other poor life choices (never pick Frosties), so it’s no wonder they’d feel a bit guilty.

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But now, the actor playing the beleaguered Bandersnatch hero has spoken out, and he’s letting us all off the hook.

“I’d tell everyone, ‘Don't worry too much, it's just a game,’” star Fionn Whitehead told RadioTimes.com when asked if he had a message for the traumatised fans of Bandersnatch.

“I think you're reading too much into it there.”

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So there you have it – permission from the man himself to keep pushing Stefan to the brink in an attempt to unlock every single ending. And according to Whitehead, it’s worth seeking them all out…

“It would have been very easy when approaching this, and approaching a multi-narrative kind of choose-your-own-story thing, to get one really good ending, and divide it into five really mediocre endings,” he said.

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“But actually I think what they did with the writing in the story in the end was come up with five really strong endings. They all work, and they all work alongside each other, and it doesn't feel like there's just one you should get to, which is the main one which makes the most sense.

“Because they all make complete sense. Within the madness of the story,” he clarified.

“I think that there's five separate endings and that the five separate endings are all as valid as each other,” concluded Whitehead. “Which is one of the things I really love about it.”

And if you have to dismember a few dads to find them, well, what’s the harm?

Black Mirror: Bandersnatch is streaming on Netflix now

Authors

Radio Times commissioning editor Huw Fullerton. He sits in front of a shelving unit, looking at the camera and smiling. He wears glasses and has a moustache

Huw FullertonCommissioning editor

Huw Fullerton is a commissioning editor for Radio Times magazine handling comedy, entertainment and specialist drama. In a previous regeneration, he covered all things sci-fi and fantasy for RadioTimes.com.

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