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BioShock, System Shock 2 and Thief creator Ken Levine is to revive iconic TV show The Twilight Zone.
The Irrational Games co-founder will be working alongside interactive video firm Interlude alongside his existing position at 2K, where he is “working diligently” on an untitled game project, Wired reports.
Interlude previously teamed up with Her Story creator Sam Barlow to produce a short film based on cult film WarGames, and appointed former Xbox Entertainment Studios head Nancy Tellem as chief media officer.
Levine said that he would be taking complete control of the interactive movie based on the sci-fi series, adding that it would be live-action.
“I’ve been a writer my whole life and I haven’t had the chance to direct a live-action thing before,” he detailed. “I’ve done a lot of directing with voice actors, and back when I was younger, I used to direct stage plays.
“[Interlude founder Yoni Bloch] was like: ‘We want to see you carry this thing through from start to finish—write it, direct it.’ And then he said: ‘Twilight Zone.’ What am I going to say? No?”
While specifics on how the experience will implement viewer agency is unclear, but Levine said the team was working hard on “figuring out how to leverage the interactive element to make a narrative tale feel more personal for the viewer, and make them more engaged”.
“Interactivity is a spectrum, it’s not binary,” he said on the meld between film and games.
“I think of it as the viewer’s angle in the chair. When you watch something, you’re sitting back in the chair. When you’re gaming, you’re leaning forward in the chair. This is an interesting place in-between – your brain is forward in the chair.”
