Let’s be real: interactive movies are usually a mess. You remember Bandersnatch, right? It was moody, kind of stressful, and felt more like a chore than a movie. But then, in 2020, Netflix dropped Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend, and somehow, it just clicked. It’s weird. It’s colorful. It’s aggressively optimistic. And honestly, it might be the only time the "choose your own adventure" gimmick felt like it actually belonged in a sitcom.
If you’re just getting around to it or finally rewatching it now in 2026, you’ve probably noticed it feels less like a special and more like a chaotic victory lap for Tina Fey’s weirdest creation.
The Secret Sauce of Kimmy vs. the Reverend
Most interactive tech tries to be deep. Kimmy vs. the Reverend does the opposite. It uses the technology for the sake of a punchline. For example, if you decide to let Kimmy "make out" with her fiancé Frederick (played with a delightful, frantic energy by Daniel Radcliffe) instead of investigating a mysterious book, the game basically tells you you’re a pervert and resets.
It’s hilarious.
The plot kicks off right before Kimmy’s wedding. She finds a "Whence Thither" book in her old Jan S. Port backpack, which leads her to believe the Reverend Richard Wayne Gary Wayne (the incomparable Jon Hamm) might have another secret bunker hidden somewhere. What follows is a road trip to West Virginia that can end in a royal wedding or, you know, the total extinction of the human race by robots.
That escalated quickly.
Why the Choices Matter (and Why They Don't)
The special is designed so you can't really "lose" for long. If you make a choice that leads to everyone dying—like picking Jacqueline to go on the trip instead of Titus—the show doesn’t just end. It gives you a "Game Over" screen, usually featuring a character like Robert Durst (Fred Armisen) or Mikey the construction worker, who mocks your life choices before sending you back to try again.
- The Best Ending: To get the "Win" ending, you have to stay true to Kimmy’s character. This means picking the fun wedding dress, having Titus follow Kimmy instead of eating dirt in the woods, and—this is the big one—sparing the Reverend’s life.
- The Morbid Curiosity Factor: You should try to kill the Reverend at least once. There are options to shoot him, stomp him, or "splode" him with a rocket launcher. If you do all three across different playthroughs, you unlock a hidden scene in Hell where he sings Sugar Ray songs with a puppet. It’s as fever-dreamish as it sounds.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Endings
There’s a common misconception that there are dozens of "real" endings. In reality, there are about three or four major paths that feel like a conclusion, while the rest are just elaborate, funny dead ends.
If you choose to have Kimmy kill the Reverend, she doesn't get the information she needs to find the other girls. You get a flash-forward five years later where Frederick has married Lillian because Kimmy went "mountain crazy" looking for the bunker. It’s a dark, weirdly touching ending, but it’s definitely not the "right" one.
The actual "golden" ending involves Kimmy finding the second bunker, rescuing the women, and getting to her wedding on time. Even then, your choices earlier in the show affect the wedding guests. Did you call Donna Maria? If so, Josh Groban might show up. Did you let Titus "read" the baby? (Please do this; his insults to a literal infant are the peak of the special).
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The Daniel Radcliffe Factor
Can we talk about Prince Frederick for a second?
Radcliffe is a comedy powerhouse. He plays Frederick as a man who is just as "broken" as Kimmy but in a high-society, British royalty kind of way. He was raised by a nanny and has no idea how the real world works, which makes him the perfect match for a woman who spent 15 years in a hole. Their chemistry is basically two Golden Retrievers trying to figure out how a doorknob works.
Actionable Tips for Your Next Playthrough
If you want to see everything this special has to offer, don't just aim for the "good" ending. The writers hid some of the best jokes in the failures.
- Wait for the Uber... Twice. When Kimmy and Titus are in West Virginia, Titus wants to wait for an Uber. If you choose to wait, and then choose to wait again when prompted, you get the "Yukopocalypse" ending. It involves a 4,000-minute wait and a robot uprising.
- Skip the Intro. Usually, skipping the intro is just a time-saver. Here, if you try to skip the iconic theme song, the characters actually notice. Do it enough times, and you’ll get a "Nice work, Nerd!" screen with bloopers.
- The "Free Bird" Trap. At the karaoke bar, you have to decide if Titus knows the song "Free Bird." If you say he knows it, he delivers a legendary performance. If you say he thinks he knows it, he sings a song about a literal bird, and everyone in the bar starts a riot.
Why It Still Matters
Honestly, Kimmy vs. the Reverend was a perfect capstone for the series. It took Kimmy from being a victim who was rescued to being the hero who does the rescuing. It’s about agency. In a show that started with a woman having her choices taken away, giving the audience the "choice" to help her find her way home is meta-storytelling at its best.
It’s not just a gimmick. It’s a way to spend one last hour with characters who feel like friends, even if those friends are occasionally getting eaten by wolves or accidentally ending the #MeToo movement because Titus ate some poisonous mushrooms.
To get the most out of your experience, try to find the "Double Secret" ending by interacting with the bachelorette party scenes multiple times—it's the only way to see Xan and Mimi Kanassis's final fates. Once you've cleared the main path, go back and intentionally make the "bad" moral choices; the writers clearly had more fun writing the insults for when you fail than the dialogue for when you succeed.