Was Mr. Robot originally supposed to be a film? Details explored

Mr. Robot is one of those shows that rewards patience. Although the first season of Mr. Robot debuted on USA Network almost a decade ago, the themes and subjects explored by the show remain as relevant as ever. It can be fairly said that Mr. Robot was the first show of its kind to contain a self-reflective tonality, thus critiquing the pitfalls of a modern and globally connected society.

It is a known fact now that Sam Esmail, the creator and showrunner of Mr. Robot, had initially planned the show to be a movie. Being fascinated by the incidence of hacker-driven activism, also Hactivism, Esmail developed the idea of a movie based on his preoccupations for the better part of fifteen years.

The original feature film screenplay that had been planned for Mr. Robot had the protagonist discovering that he had a mental disorder while simultaneously subscribing to a grand scheme. However, while writing the script, Esmail realized that the screenplay had packed in too much material.

He thus decided to transform his feature film script into a television show. It then transpired that the originally planned end of the first act of the feature film script became the finale of the first season of Mr. Robot.

Here's everything that we know.

---

Sam Esmail originally planned Mr. Robot to be a feature film

Following the season one finale of the show back in 2015, creator and showrunner Sam Esmail sat down for an exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly in which he spoke at length about his original plans to make a movie out of the subject. The logline of the film was supposed to be the discovery of Elliot's multiple personalities. Esmail explained:

"The thing was that I really wanted to tell a story about this guy who discovers that he has dissociative identity disorder, while at the same time enacting this crazy plan. How does he live with that? How does he negotiate that? How does he reconcile all of that? That was literally the end of the first act. It’s funny because the whole reveal of Mr. Robot was considered this big reveal for our season ending, but from the film that I was going to write, it was essentially going to be the big setup. That’s what Mr. Robot was always about. So the first season was a huge setup for what the real story is going to be about going forward."

---

Sam Esmail credited Fight Club as one of his inspirations

Esmail has described himself as a certified film nerd, adding that he borrows from every film and television show he has ever watched. When asked about the inclusion of the popular song Where Is My Mind by The Pixies on the show, Esmail remarked:

"I’ll say this right now. I rip off of every movie and TV show I’ve ever seen in my life. I’m a film nerd. That’s what I did growing up. Other than being on the computer, I was watching TV and movies. I make no apologies. Fight Club was one of my big inspirations for the show. I think the nod or the acknowledgement with “Where Is My Mind” at the end of episode 9 was, yes, in part letting the audience know that we’re very much aware that Fight Club was an inspiration, but at the same time, we make no apologies about it. We own it."

---

Mr. Robot is available on Prime Video in the United States.