In response to the popularity of other nostalgia-based programming aimed at millennial viewers, Netflix announced this week that it will adapt the now-defunct print edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica into a streaming series.
"It's hard to imagine a book series with a more lasting, profound cultural impact than Encyclopaedia Britannica," commented Netflix CEO Reed Hastings in an interview with Deadline Hollywood. "Everyone I've approached over the age of 30 has had an overwhelming response to this project--most of them groaning loudly and sharing youthful memories of being trapped in stuffy school libraries trying to half-ass assignments that were due the next day."
Once recognized as perhaps the most comprehensive, thorough, and indispensable set of encyclopedias on the market, Encyclopaedia Britannica, as re-imagined by Netflix, will, surprisingly, not be a documentary-style series. Instead, the narrative will follow the adventures of a misanthropic teenager obsessed with classic '80s films like Back to the Future, E.T. and The Last Starfighter. After encountering a "cursed" first edition of Britannica on a field trip to a local library, the show's protagonist embarks on an "epic" fantasy journey through the entire history of space, time, and human cultural evolution, which Hastings says will be contained within a single, five-episode first season.
Further details are spotty at this time, but Hastings assures Deadline that the show will include "lots of monsters and fighting and '80s-type special effects and stuff."
"We've learned that viewers between the ages of 30 and 45 will binge-watch, discuss, and post on social media about pretty much anything that's set in the 1980s and has supernatural beings in it," said Hastings. "Don't ask me why."
Encyclopaedia Britannica is currently slated for just one season with Netflix. If response from viewers is overwhelming, however, it's possible the show could be renewed for up to two additional seasons before being abruptly cancelled by Netflix and blocked from moving to other platforms, in order for Netflix to avoid honoring contractually mandated pay increases for its creative team. --Devon Ashby