Netflix is making its first foray into scripted podcasts.
The Only Podcast Left, set for premiere Nov. 7, is a complementary production to the streamer’s post-apocalyptic comedy series Daybreak, which premiered Oct. 24.
Daybreak follows a lovelorn teenager (played by Colin Ford) as he searches for the girl he loves (Sophie Simnett) in the aftermath of an apocalypse that gave birth to zombies and Mad Max-esque gangs of former jocks and queen bees. Specific details about The Last Podcast Left’s cast and plot haven’t been revealed, but Variety reports that it will branch off from the series’ first season and follow a group of surviving teens who start their own podcast to chronicle the end of times.
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Daybreak’s showrunner and head writer Aron Coleite is executive producing.
“We love how podcasts give creators more freedom to explore and go deeper into elements of their stories, and we see original scripted podcasts as the next level in world exploration,” Rae Votta, Netflix’s podcast lead, said in a statement. “This one was especially fun as it’s playing into the meta nature of it all and explores what makes a podcast…by making a podcast.”
The Last Podcast Left will stream exclusively on Spotify until Dec. 12 before being distributed widely across popular podcasting platform, per Variety.
As mentioned above, this is Netflix’s first scripted podcast, but not its first podcast overall. The streamer produces a handful of others, including Strong Black Legends, about the iconic black folks who shaped creative industries, You Can’t Make This Up, which follows true crime filmmakers, and Present Company with Krista Smith, where the former Vanity Fair editor chats with film industry leaders. (There’s also that time Netflix inexplicably turned director commentary for its hit romantic comedy Always Be My Maybe into a sort-of podcast.)
Netflix’s decision to move into scripted podcasting is a reflection of fictional shows’ growing popularity and appeal. One of the best-known storytelling podcasts is Dungeons & Dragons-based The Adventure Zone, which follows the sibling creators behind My Brother, My Brother, and Me (plus their dad) as they roleplay characters in uncanny and fascinating worlds; it was recently adapted into a New York Times-bestselling series of graphic novels. Established digital stars from other mediums are crossing into fictional podcasting, too — YouTube’s Markiplier (24.5M subscribers) stars in the newly debuted scripted horror series The Edge of Sleep, where he plays a watchman that discovers everyone who fell asleep the night before has died.
