Think you’ve played all endings of Black Mirror: Bandersnatch? Think again. It turns out that Netflix’s choose-your-own-adventure movie has a secret post-credits ending after the main five that constitute the bulk of the game, although it’s quite tricky to find.
Black Mirror: Bandersnatch’s multiple choice storytelling is nothing new - it’s been a part of books and, of course, video games for decades - but something so sophisticated is definitely groundbreaking. That said, for all the technical complexities in constructing, shooting, editing and releasing the project, it does ultimately follow basic rules. Bandersnatch has 1 trillion possible story threads (that’s the number of unique paths after just forty two-option choices) and allegedly never-to-be-found scenes, but there are really just five unique endings. Once achieving all five of these, the player “finishes” the story and the credits play with no further option to replay.
However, if you follow one of several very specific paths in Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, you get one extra scene. After the credits, the game goes back to the start, with Stefan (Fionn Whitehead) on the bus on his way to Tuckersoft to first pitch the game. However, instead of getting the option to listen to a Thompson Twins or Now 2 cassette, he puts in a tape for Bandersnatch, which plays a mix of high-pitched beeps and static. The scene then ends, but the mystery doesn’t; figuring that the tape was for the ZX Spectrum, the console in-film video game Bandersnatch was being designed for, fans put the sound in an emulator and got a QR code. This, in turn, led to a page on the Tuckersoft site where you can download a working copy of “Nohzdyve”, the game Colin is developing at the start of Bandersnatch (although it only works on the ZX Spectrum or an emulator).
As for how you can reach this ending, the exact logic hasn’t been cracked as of yet. The Wrap posted one track they took to get there, which involved them going through the following endings in this order: Accept the original offer; Kill Stefan on the drug trip; the P.A.C.S. ending; fight Dr. Haynes; Kill Dad and bury the body; Chop up the body (twice); Get rabbit from Dad (but get safe wrong); Get rabbit from Dad and kill Stefan as a child. This exhausts all endings bar the reveal of a film set in Dr. Haynes office, but it’s unclear which step (or specific choice) spawns the after-credits scene.
Ultimately, this extra stinger is less for those looking for a complete experience - to get it you already have the “best” ending of Black Mirror: Bandersnatch - and more something for obsessive fans to find. It doesn’t add anything more to the various stories, nor the themes deconstructing free will. What it does show, though, is that there’s still a lot of hidden unseen secrets in Black Mirror: Bandersnatch that will only be found in the weeks and months to come.
