Netflix Goes Interactive With Rom-Com Choose Love

Netflix has dabbled in interactive content for years. 2017’s Puss In Boots: Trapped In An Epic Tale was the streamer’s first choose-your-own-adventure special, but it was 2018’s Black Mirror: Bandersnatch that drew a large spotlight to Netflix’s new endeavor — and won two Emmys, one for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media Within a Scripted Program, in the process. Since then, the streamer has added a handful of other interactive specials and games to its library, like Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend, Barbie Epic Road Trip, Triviaverse, and You vs. Wild.

Netflix’s next addition to the category, premiering on August 31, is something completely new: a choose-your-own-adventure rom-com. And it was last week's Trailer of the Week pick:

Choose Love stars Laura Marano (Austin and Ally) as Cami. She has a great job and a loving boyfriend (Scott Michael Foster), but can’t help but wonder — what if things were different? It’s up to the viewer to guide Cami through interactions with her boyfriend, the one who got away (Jordi Webber), and a British rock star (Avan Jogia), and ultimately choose who she ends up with. If those watching didn’t already feel involved enough, the trailer shows Marano frequently turning and staring straight into the camera, begging for help.

The format fits the genre well, taking cues from films, like Sliding Doors and Netflix’s 2022 original Look Both Ways, that explore how romances play out over multiple timelines. And in this instance, if things don’t turn out the way viewers wants, they have only themselves to blame.

Honorable mention: Loki Season 2, October 6 (Disney+)

Loki Season 1 is Marvel’s most-watched series on Disney+, and based on the reaction to the trailer, Season 2 is poised to follow suit — according to Disney, the trailer’s release broke records with 80 million views. Ke Huy Quan joins the cast this season (his second role in a Disney+ show this year after American Born Chinese) as O.B., a Time Variance Authority employee who, according to the trailer, may or may not be helpful in solving Loki’s “time-slipping” problem.

Mask Girl, August 18 (Netflix)

Who is Mask Girl really? The mysterious and murderous cam girl goes by many names and many faces, each played by a different actor: Ko Hyun-Jung, Nana, and, according to Netflix, “a new talent yet to be revealed.” How did she go from an unassuming office worker to a famous showgirl? And why is she on a killing spree? The trailer for the Korean thriller hints that in Mask Girl’s life, there are no simple answers and things are never quite what they seem.

Brianna Wellen is a TV Reporter at Primetimer who became obsessed with television when her parents let her stay up late to watch E.R.