Transmedia Storytelling
When I guested on Justin Gary’s Think Like a Game Designer podcast, we chatted about Transmedia Storytelling. As far as I know the term was coined by Henry Jenkins to codify the process of adapting a story across multiple media formats, expanding the universe of an intellectual property in a way that engages audiences on various platforms, each offering a unique perspective or piece of the narrative.
Having worked on Alias, Lost, and Heroes, I’ve seen firsthand how transmedia storytelling can transform a show from a passive viewing experience into an immersive, participatory world for those inclined to engage.
A comic might explore a character’s backstory, a video game level could put players into the world’s conflicts, and an alternate reality game (ARG) might invite audiences to uncover secrets hidden in the narrative. Henry Jenkins outlined a few core principles that define this approach:
Spreadability & Drillability – Some elements are easy to share and spread widely, while others encourage deep exploration for fans who want to dig in.
Multiplicity – Different versions of the story can exist, offering alternative perspectives or parallel narratives.
Immersion & Extractability – Fans should be able to enter the story world (through interactive elements) and take pieces of it with them (merchandise, digital artifacts).
Experiments at Alias & Heroes
One of the reasons we could execute effective transmedia content for Alias and Heroes was because the showrunners were genuinely committed to experimenting with it. Just as importantly, the same scribblers who were crafting the episodes were also responsible for creating most of the transmedia content. This direct integration ensured that every extension felt authentic to the main narrative rather than an afterthought or marketing gimmick.
At Heroes, this approach was further fueled by a mandate from Jeff Zucker, then head of NBC, who wanted transmedia content across all his network’s shows. Since there was no established blueprint for how to do this, we - The League of Heroic Scribblers - had the opportunity to take the lead.
With the help of transmedia pioneer Mark Warshaw, we worked directly with different departments at the network, collaborating across digital, marketing, publishing, and gaming to create extensions that were organic to the world of the series.
This level of cross-departmental integration has rarely been seen in big franchise IPs, and it’s one of the major reasons transmedia storytelling has struggled to reach its full potential. Too often, major studios and corporations keep their various departments siloed, each focused on its own profit and loss (P&L) sheet, with little incentive to coordinate efforts.
The result is a fragmented experience where a movie, game, or comic might exist within the same IP but feel disconnected rather than part of a unified narrative.
The Lost Mystery Box
Lost was a perfect canvas for transmedia expansion. The show’s mythology, Easter eggs, and unanswered questions made it ideal for extensions beyond TV. The Lost Experience ARG introduced new characters and explored the sinister Dharma Initiative through hidden websites, phone messages, and even a fictional novel (Bad Twin) published in the real world.
These elements were led by one of the show's seminal scribblers, Javier Grillo Marxuach, and rewarded fans who wanted to engage more deeply while remaining optional for casual viewers.
One of the most valuable lessons from Lost was that transmedia storytelling works best when it respects audience investment. Fans don’t want a marketing gimmick, they want meaningful pieces of the narrative puzzle. They crave deeper engagement without it feeling like homework.
The Heroes Experience
With Heroes, we took transmedia storytelling to a new level, leveraging multiple platforms in a way that hadn’t been done before on network television. Some of the key elements included:
Graphic Novels – Weekly digital comics expanded character backstories and side plots.
Webisodes – Online mini-episodes introduced new characters and tied into the main show.
ARGs & Interactive Websites – Heroes Evolutions let fans uncover in-world documents, surveillance footage, and hidden clues about the show’s mysteries.
Fan Participation – The “Create Your Hero” initiative allowed fans to vote on a new character’s traits, with the winner appearing in a live-action web series.
By weaving all these elements together, Heroes became a living, breathing story-verse that millions of fans around the world could explore across multiple formats.
The Transmedia Future
With streaming platforms, social media, and AI-generated content, the potential for transmedia storytelling has evolved beyond what we pioneered in the early 2000s. Audiences crave deeper engagement and interactivity. The challenge is maintaining narrative integrity, having every extension serve the story, creating spaces for fans to solve a mystery, unlock a hidden chapter, or even shape new directions for the IP.
With Netflix trying to build fandoms for new IP, and streamers like Peacock and Max needing to revive interest in legacy IP, telling transmedia stories offers a proven path.
But without a mandate from the most powerful person on the org chart – it’s not gonna happen.
The future transmedia storytellers will be outsiders. Small teams or even individuals not beholden to the corporate regime of the month, P&L siloes, and department politics. It’ll be the visionary folks creating the narrative and excited to experiment with how they share it.
