Why Colin From Black Mirror: Bandersnatch Looks So Familiar

Netflix's British dystopian series Black Mirror kicked off 2019 with the release of Bandersnatch, an interactive, choose-your-own adventure film with several exceedingly dark twists and turns. Telling the story of Stefan, a young game designer who finds himself losing control of his everyday life, the film has been extremely popular with viewers and critics, with fans obsessively laying out each ending and mapping out every existing pathway. Viewers tried over and over again to "win" the game-like film, coming away with the exact message Black Mirror intended — free will is often an illusion, and our choices are usually made for us.

Though the film is seen through the perspective of Stefan (Dunkirk's Fionn Whitehead), early in the story, we meet perhaps the most important character that Stefan encounters: Colin Ritman (Will Poulter), a skilled game designer who has seemingly mastered the craft and is able to introduce Stefan to a new way of thinking. Viewers may have recognized Poulter, who has been acting since a young age, from any number of projects that have been popular in the U.K., the States, and beyond. Here's where you might have seen Colin from Black Mirror's Bandersnatch pop up before.

2009 saw Poulter's biggest break yet — he was cast a featured role in the third film based on C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. In 2010's Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Poulter's character, Eustace Scrubb, debuted as a bookish, often irritating cousin of the Pevensie family (which is made up of Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, the main characters of the first two novels and films), with whom Edmund and Lucy are temporarily staying. Because Eustace wasn't transported to Narnia before the events of this film, he doesn't have the best attitude about the whole situation, but once he's cursed and transformed into a dragon, he becomes kinder and more patient, eventually saving his cousins and the crew of the Dawn Treader from an evil serpent. At the end of the film, Aslan tells Eustace that, because he has changed for the better, he'll be allowed to return to Narnia when he wishes.

The film performed well at the box office, but didn't fare as well critically, with a 50% average on Rotten Tomatoes. However, some critics singled out Poulter's performance, with Luke Y. Thompson from E! saying that "Poulter's turn as Eustace injects a welcome note of comedic cynicism into the sea of sentimentality."

In 2013, Poulter appeared in We're the Millers, a big-budget Hollywood comedy starring Jennifer Aniston, Jason Sudeikis, Emma Roberts, Nick Offerman, Kathryn Hahn, Ed Helms, and more. In the film, David Clark (Sudeikis), a low-level pot dealer,  is forced to transport drugs across the U.S. border and into Mexico. Figuring he can fly under the radar if he looks like an average Joe, he enlists a stripper (Aniston) to pose as his wife and two teenage runaways who are actually siblings (Roberts and Poulter) to pose as his two children. As Kenny, Poulter plays a socially awkward teen juxtaposed against his criminally inclined, confident sister, and it gave him the chance to show off his broad comedy chops (including a scene when he gets a spider bite where no man would want a spider bite) as well as his American accent.

The film was successful at the box office, and though critical response was tepid at best, Poulter's career was given an invaluable jump start. He was singled out by critics, including one who labeled him a "true find," and won the BAFTA Rising Star Award, which is voted for by the public, as well as two MTV Movie Awards, both for We're the Millers (specifically, Best Breakthrough Performance and Best Kiss, which he shared with Roberts and Aniston).

Poulter's next project was another indie — Glassland, written and directed by Gerard Barrett. The film stars Jack Reynor as John, who must help his troubled mother Jean (Toni Collette) as she struggles with severe alcoholism. Raised without a father, John must look after both his mother and his brother (who has Down syndrome) alone, and though he constantly fights with his mother to keep her safe and to keep her from drinking, they deeply care for each other. Poulter plays John's friend Shane, who lives with his mother as well, but who has a much angrier and much more fraught relationship with her, in which he often verbally abuses her for minor offenses, though the film reveals that this is partly due to his own issues with his absent father.

Glassland premiered to positive reviews, and Poulter was often singled out as a standout, holding his own against veteran talents Reynor and Collette. Poulter noted that he was extremely proud of the film, marking a serious artistic achievement after a string of more mainstream efforts.

Poulter nearly had two huge roles in 2017, but one prevented the other from happening: though he was originally cast as Pennywise the Clown in It, he was replaced by Bill Skarsgård, and he exited with the original director, Cary Fukunaga (who rose to fame during the first season of True Detective) thanks to a conflict with another film. Poulter chose to appear in Detroit in that same year, which was directed by Oscar winner Kathryn Bigelow and told the story of the 1967 12th Street Riots in Detroit, and was released on the 50th anniversary of the event. Poulter starred alongside a cast that included John Boyega (fresh off of Star Wars: The Force Awakens), John Krasinski, and Anthony Mackie, part of a talented ensemble in a gritty, period crime film telling a dark story from America's history.

Poulter played sadistic policeman Philip Krauss, who kills a suspected looter on sight and spends the remainder of the film framing innocent people for crimes that he committed. After perpetrating numerous abusive acts throughout the film, he and his men are removed from active duty. Poulter's performance received numerous accolades, and some critics even believed he could earn an Oscar nomination for his difficult, polarizing role.