Fear Factor Vertical Series Brings Scripted Horror to Phones

Fox is turning Fear Factor into a scripted horror show built for phones. The company announced the Fear Factor vertical series on October 27, 2026, alongside Endemol Shine North America, and the untitled project will debut on Holywater Tech's My Drama platform. The run will consist of 30 episodes, each three minutes long, and Fox Entertainment Global will handle worldwide distribution and windowing.

The move is a first for the franchise. Fox said the Fear Factor vertical series marks the first time an established unscripted television franchise has been turned into an original scripted series, according to the announcement covered by The Wrap. The project is also the platform's first horror series, a genre step for a service known for short-form romantic and dramatic microseries.

The story leaves the reality competition format behind entirely. It follows a practical-effects artist and her crew during prep week on a remote horror television set, where they switch on a haunted fortune-telling machine. The machine subjects the crew to personalized death trials, and the survivors must piece together where it came from before it reaches the people they love. No release date has been set for the Fear Factor vertical series.

A franchise with a long dare history

Fear Factor premiered in 2001 on NBC and ran for seven seasons, with Joe Rogan hosting the original dare-driven run. Fox revived the format this year as Fear Factor: House of Fear, with Johnny Knoxville hosting a version built around contestants living together and facing stunts. The revival opened to 17.5 million multiplatform viewers across Fox and Hulu, which Fox and Nielsen ranked as the season's highest-rated broadcast debut and the top new unscripted series among adults aged eighteen to forty-nine.

The revival has already earned a second season. Its first-season finale saw Ethan Macmillan, a twenty-year-old emergency dispatcher from Toronto, take home a prize of two hundred thousand dollars. That response, Hannah Pillemer, head of scripted at Fox Entertainment Studios, said, opened the door to taking Fear Factor somewhere new for the franchise. Pillemer said Fear Factor had always tapped into something primal, naming what scares viewers, how far they will go, and what happens when they confront their fears, as reported by The Wrap.

Why vertical, and why now

The Fear Factor vertical series arrives as television companies chase audiences who watch on their phones. Cynopsis noted in its October 28 rundown that vertical video is drawing heavy investment from networks, and pointed to Fox's deal with Tubi creators and its stake in Holywater as part of the same push. Fox also struck a deal earlier in October with Kevin Hart's Hartbeat to develop vertical series under the Codeblack, Essence and Revolt brands, with an opening slate of 25 live-action titles set to live on the platform.

Endemol Shine North America framed the format as a natural fit for the brand. "Vertical storytelling is creating a new language for entertainment, one built on immediacy, intimacy, and serialized discovery," Michael Heyerman, executive vice president of unscripted series at Endemol Shine North America, said. He added that Fear Factor already speaks that language fluently, in remarks covered by entertainment press.

The creative team behind the Fear Factor vertical series is set. Thom Woodley and Andrew Beck wrote the series, Gabriel Caste will direct, and Ian Nsenga and Yuliia Vyshnevska are attached as producers. Fox holds an equity stake in Holywater, which gives the project a direct line into the platform it will call home.

What to watch next

For now, the biggest open questions for the Fear Factor vertical series are the premiere date and the cast, neither of which Fox has announced. The format itself is the experiment: a horror story told in three-minute vertical episodes, designed to be watched one-handed on a phone, with each installment ending on a beat that pulls viewers into the next. If it works, the Fear Factor vertical series gives Fox a template for turning other unscripted brands into scripted mobile shows.

For more on horror and short-form video, according to our earlier reporting, GenZ NewZ covered the Clayface clip putting DC's hard-R horror on display, the Pumpkin Head TikTok trend, and the Kai Cenat trailer topping YouTube charts. The Wrap reported the Fear Factor announcement in full at its coverage of the scripted microseries coming to the platform.