Edgy Teaser For The Interactive Series Reboot of the 1983 Film WARGAMES

Wargames is a 1983 sci-fi hacker movie starring Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy. Now a WarGames reboot is coming in 2018, but it's not your typical reboot, as it will be released as an “experimental interactive series” in which viewers can finally answer the AI’s iconic taunt: “Shall we play a game?”

MGM has teamed up with the interactive video company Eko and they have been working with the HerStory creator Sam Barlow on putting a modern spin on the campy ’80s sci-fi film. The new WarGames is titled #WarGames, and instead of focusing on Cold War paranoia it's being rewired to focus on “modern espionage, hacking and government conspiracy.” 

Shall we play a game? You shape the story in #WarGames, the new interactive series, coming soon from Eko, in partnership with MGM. Created by Sam Barlow.

The teaser for #WarGames shows only flashes of footage from the series mixed with real TV news footage and references to real-life news events including, Yahoo’s 2013 email hack, the 2014 Sony hack, the 2016 e-robbery of a bank in Bangladesh, and the Equifax security breach. We also get a brief clip of the main character and hacker Kelly appearing on webcam. We don't know what the plot for the series will be or if it will follow the original movie’s story that follows a brilliant high schooler who accidentally hacks into a U.S. military supercomputer.

In an interview with io9, Barlow expanded on how the interactive series will work for viewers, describing:

You’ll have a bunch of windows on your screen. We’re used to video chatting with our friends, having a big image, and smaller images of other people, things dropping in and out. So we decided to build the show around this concept. As the story’s progressing, all these different characters are talking to each other over the internet, and all of their windows are up on the screen. There’ll be additional video windows as well, so if they’re hacking into CCTV cameras, you’ll see that. If they’re watching a live TV broadcast, you’ll see that.

#WarGames is set to be released sometime in 2018. The series will be available to watch on the Eko website, and the Eko presents mobile app.