Mosaic Trailer Unveils HBO's Interactive Crime Thriller

Crime stories are historically one of television's favorite dramatic genres, so much so that a new series is called to do a lot in order to stand out. HBO's new limited six-part thriller from director Steven Soderbergh, Mosaic, establishes its uniqueness in a big way—it's interactive. And even better, if you have an iOS device, it's available to experience for free in its entirety right now. 

Billed as "a new storytelling experience" from Soderbergh, HBO, and writer Ed Solomon, Mosaic is a six-part narrative built around an interactive app, through which viewers are encouraged to thread their way through an unfolding crime story in a branching, "choose-your-own-adventure" sort of format. 

As far as the narrative goes, the story of Mosaic centers on the murder of a children's book author named Olivia Lake, and two men who may or may not have something to do with it. Via the branching narrative structure, viewers are able to choose whose storyline they follow, seeing only some of many possible perspectives on the story during one pass-through. 

The story is being packaged in two ways, the first and most buzzworthy being through the free Mosaic app, which as the trailer announces is available for download now on iOS devices. (An Android-compatible version of the app, also free, is coming soon.) A second, linear version of the story, assembled by director Steven Soderbergh, will debut Monday, January 22 on HBO.

Rather than being a traditional narrative that was reassembled in a new media format for promotional reasons, Mosaic has been built from the ground-up around its branching narrative attribute, having been in the works for three years. 

"At no point were we reverse-engineering the story to fit an existing piece of technology," said Soderbergh, speaking to Deadline. "The story was being created in lockstep with the technical team. The fluidity of that relationship made me feel comfortable because I wanted it to be a simple, intuitive experience."

Mosaic stars Sharon Stone as Olivia Lake, Garrett Hedlund as Joel, Frederick Weller as Eric, and Devin Ratray as Detective Nate Henry. The series also features performances from Beau Bridges, Paul Reubens, James Ransone, Jeremy Bobb, Jennifer Ferrin, Maya Kazan, and Michael Cerveris.

Watch the new trailer for the limited series above, or check out the first, more explanatory trailer for the show below.