In the early days of Survivor, each season took place in a new environment across the globe. Malaysia, Australia, Kenya, and French Polynesia, the first four seasons alone, were so culturally diverse, introducing American viewers to environments they might never get a chance to experience.
While we've seen standard seasons with various twists—schoolyard pick tribes, bringing back all-star past players, dividing tribes by age, gender, or race—none of them ever compare to the seasons with larger themes that set up the narrative and gameplay of the season for the players to weave through.
The first major throughline theme was for the 12th season, Survivor: Panama. While the idea of exile island had been introduced two seasons earlier in a one-off moment during Survivor: Palau, and hidden immunity idols came into the game just in the last season with Survivor: Guatemala, Panama was the first season to combine the two twists into a recurring theme that drastically impacted gameplay.
From there we were gifted those big themed seasons like Fans vs. Favorites, Heroes vs. Villains, Redemption Island, Blood vs. Water, Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty, White Collar vs. Blue Collar vs. No Collar, Second Chance, Millennials vs. Gen X, Game Changers, Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, Ghost Island, David vs. Goliath, Edge of Extinction, Island of the Idols, and Winners at War. And while they were by no means all winners, they added the perfect amount of new angle to each forthcoming season, really setting it up to differ from its earlier predecessors.
But then the new era came, and suddenly we were given numbers for subtitles and sent back to the original idea of new twists here and there. It's part of why the new era felt like such a drastic shift after we'd spent over a decade specifically being served these game-long intrusions that were continuously causing chaos. Comparatively, a one-time hourglass or occasional journey doesn't feel as substantial to the overall impact of a season.
We're getting a small taste of what a new era-themed season might be like with Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans though it's still less of a theme and more of a twist for the players as fans vote in different elements of the game. But the categories we were voting for were still based around traditional gameplay options rather than introducing something new that will change the way the players have to approach the game for the entire season.
And that's why those themed seasons are the best to rewatch and are some of the top seasons in Survivor history. They are so dynamic because they added a level of gameplay that forced players to take on the game differently in the moment than they might have anticipated. Gathering a group of people to work both together and against each other is interesting at its core, but adding in a major wrench that forces people to be on their toes even more so than normal is captivating.
So I can't help but wonder if we'll ever get a true new era themed season or if 25 years from now we'll be sitting down to watch Survivor 100. I personally hope that as we enter the new era of returning players we start to see a little bit more of the old school game integrated into the updated format.