Netflix experiments with a random play button
It's hidden inside a particular update of the Android app.
Sometimes you just don't want to think. Who cares if it makes no narrative sense, let's just watch a random episode of your favorite show. For some Netflix users, they can throw caution to the wind. As spotted by Android Police, the streaming service is testing a "Random Episode" button where the next episode shortcut is usually found. There's also a shuffle rail of Netflix's most popular shows where you can leap into the streaming ether entirely at random.
While the likes of Friends, standalone episode stories like Black Mirror can probably handle such arbitrary viewing methods, series like Stranger Things or the recent Umbrella Academy would definitely be a struggle. It would make sense for anyone falling asleep to Netflix in the background, perhaps. Anyone, not specifically me.
Netflix has tried shaking things up, order-wise, before: Love, Death and Robots trialed out a randomized viewing method, streaming episodes in four different patterns.
