Jason Segel & Kirsten Miller to Release Dystopian YA Trilogy

While many may associate Jason Segel with The Muppets, How I Met Your Mother and vampire puppet operas, the actor is now aligning himself with a new genre: dystopian YA literature.

Along with co-writer Kirsten Miller, Segel plans to launch a new novel trilogy titled Otherworld, which sounds very Black Mirror meets Westworld meets, well, dystopian YA literature. Seriously, just read the official description below and tell us it couldn’t pass as a Black Mirror episode description on Netflix:

There are no screens. There are no controls. You don’t just see and hear it—you taste, smell, and touch it too. In this new reality, there are no laws to break or rules to obey. You can live your best life. Indulge every desire. It’s a game so addictive you’ll never want it to end. Until you realize that you’re the one being played. Welcome to Otherworld, where reality is dead. Step into the future. Leave your body behind.

Does that description make us think of this gem of a twitter account? Yes, yes it does. In an interview with EW, Segel said the inspiration for the novels came from a videogame from his youth. “When I was a teenager, I was one of the lucky few who got to experience a game very much like Otherworld before it was shut down,” said Segel. “Part mythic adventure, part sci-fi love story, entirely cautionary tale—we wanted to reach the new generation of potential players before this ‘game’ becomes a reality.” We’re not really sure what game Segel is referring to—any guesses, folks?

This is actually Segel and Miller’s second run as co-writers. In 2014, the pair released the middle-grade series Nightmares! Despite the title, the book was generally thought to be charming. Something tells us Otherworld may be a bit darker.

The first book in the trilogy is set to be released this November, and is currently available for preorder. You can check out the cover art below. In the meantime, don’t miss Paste’s list of “The 30 Best Young Adult Books of All Time.”

Here it is! pic.twitter.com/1rLCqq1rbW

— Kirsten Miller (@bankstirregular) April 27, 2017