News that Netflix has greenlit a reality series recreating the notorious Stanford Prison Experiment sparked backlash online. The production, titled The New Stanford Prison Experiment, is reportedly set to be released on October 21 in 6 episodes of 45 minutes each. According to the official synopsis, 30 volunteers will be randomly assigned to serve as guards or prisoners in a real prison, while the program will explore the question “Does power corrupt?” through the lens of power, hierarchy, control, empathy and morality.
X users responded to the decision with shock and criticism; some described the production as “an endless parody,” said Netflix had learned the wrong lesson from Squid Game, and asked whether anything had been learned from the original experiment.
In 1971, Dr. Philip Zimbardo and his graduate students assigned college-aged men to be guards and prisoners for two weeks in a mock prison set up in a basement on the Stanford campus. However, the study was stopped after 6 days because of the guards’ psychological abuse and the prisoners’ anxiety, depression and anger. Prisoners were subjected to mistreatment including sexual humiliation, sleep deprivation and being forced to defecate in buckets; some guards watched these acts. Zimbardo, who was criticized for losing his objectivity while acting as the prison superintendent, said in 2016 that such research could no longer be conducted. Stanford now uses the experiment in courses on the psychology of evil and research ethics.
Why it matters
This decision means turning an exercise used as a cautionary example in research ethics courses—and halted after six days because of severe psychological consequences—into an entertainment format. The fact that participants are volunteers does not, by itself, answer the question of how to prevent the risks of humiliation, sleep deprivation and psychological pressure that may arise under an imbalance of power. Zimbardo’s statement that similar research could no longer be conducted raises the question of whether positioning the program as a reality production rather than a scientific experiment resolves the ethical concerns. The reaction on social media shows that the debate is not only about the content, but also about turning past mistreatment into a spectacle. The key unresolved issue is what rules will be used to protect participants’ safety.
Background
Netflix is not a new name in the FikirPilot archive: in the past 90 days, we have published 15 news stories mentioning the name, the latest dated September 14, 2026.