Sam Esmail’s Leave the World Behind, based on Rumaan Alam’s book of the same name, dominated discussions when it arrived on Netflix last November. Despite the narrative being fictitious, it centered on a cyberattack that could very well happen in reality.
What’s more, Barack and Michelle Obama are credited as executive producers. It didn’t take long for conspiracy theorists to start speculating, with many suggesting Leave the World Behind uses “predictive programming” to prepare viewers for what’s to come.
The film itself stars Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Mahershala Ali, and Myha’la as two families who fight for survival amid an inexplicable blackout. Although Esmail shut down the theories, a major real-life outage has fans convinced it’s real.
Have a Good Thursday Do you remember Leave the World BehindAT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon. Multiple carriers, multiple cities all SOS Only #outage pic.twitter.com/pmICkm1kUk
— primalkey (@primalkey) February 22, 2024
Those who have been affected by the blackout are unable to make calls or send texts, leaving their devices in SOS mode, while some have faced issues connecting to the internet on their phones.
There have also been reports of issues with other services including Verizon and T-Mobile.
Sound familiar? That’s because it’s what happened to the characters in the Netflix movie in “stage one” of the cyberattack – before all hell broke loose. “Is Leave the World Behind getting a test run?” asked one concerned spectator in reference to the network blackout.
“Massive AT&T outage. Isn’t this how the movie Leave the World Behind started,” said another, while a third added, “This AT&T outage got me feeling like I’m in Leave the World Behind. SOS mode.”
“Leave the World Behind… that movie left me anxious and of course I got AT&T,” commented a fourth. And a fifth chimed in, “AT&T & Verizon is down, Leave the World behind is happening.”
Of course, all of these comments are tongue-in-cheek – the end of the world definitely isn’t happening right now *laughs nervously*… Joking aside, AT&T said in a statement that it is “working urgently” to restore its service.
Until then, why not give Leave the World Behind a revisit on Netflix? Nothing like a bit of existential anxiety to round off the week.