When Is Black Mirror Back?

3 weeks ago

From a very-British cult-followed Channel 4 sci-fi drama to an Emmy-winning mainstay in the Netflix portfolio, love it or hate it, Black Mirror is a cultural phenomenon. Here’s everything we know so far about season 7

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While season 6 reviews were certainly mixed, there’s no doubt that Black Mirror season 7 is highly anticipated. With all five episodes written by the series’ original creator, Charlie Brooker, last season we jumped from CGI celebrities to ‘60s astronauts, true crime critiques to werewolves – so what’s in store this time around?

Black Mirror Season 7: Plot, Cast, Release Date

What Will Happen?

Black Mirror season 7 will be made up of six episodes, one functioning as a sequel to the Emmy-award winning season 4 episode ‘USS Callister’ starring Jesse Plemons, Cristin Milioti, Jimmi Simpson, Michaela Coel and Billy Magnussen – the first sequel the anthology series has ever explored. ‘Fans of the show will recognise the cast of a certain spaceship from one of our episodes reappearing,’ series creator and writer Charlie Brooker told audiences at Netflix’s Geeked Week in Atlanta in September 2024. ‘We’ve done a sequel for the first time in Black Mirror history.’

An official synopsis from Netflix reads: ‘USS Callister will return… Robert Daly is dead, but for the crew of the USS Callister, their problems are just beginning.’

Also in September, Netflix released a code-style ‘teaser’ brimming with cryptic clues and phrases as to what might happen in season 7. Phrases like ‘too soon?’, ‘lonely old place isn’t it’, ‘a rose for a rose’, ‘a revolution in neurological science’, ‘everything alright at home?’, ‘oh dear – is the entire internet wrong?’ and ‘who drank my almond milk?’ all flash up on screen alongside the names of some of the media’s brightest stars right now (more on that below).

TCKR_Confidential_NotForDistribution.mp4 pic.twitter.com/NdaGRQYtba

— Black Mirror (@blackmirror) September 19, 2024

As for the series as a whole: ‘you can expect a mix of genres and styles,’ Brooker told fans at Geek Week. ‘We’ve got six episodes this time, and two of them are basically feature-length. Some of them are deeply unpleasant, some are quite funny, and some are emotional.’

Looking at the first stills from the series (more of those below), we can also glean some hints about the series. In the above image, Will Poulter seems to be some kind of music mogul – though he crucially dons the same bleached shade of hair he has in Bandersnatch. Could there be another sequel on the cards?

Meanwhile, below we see Issa Rae and Emma Corrin in a kind of black and white film scenario. However, another still reveals Rae with a device attached to her temple in a more modern or even futuristic setting – so there might be some time bending in Black Mirror season 7. And not for the first time: just think of season 6’s ‘Beyond the Sea’ and ‘Demon 79’, or even the horrifying flashbacks in season 4’s ‘Black Museum’.

Issa Rae & Emma Corrin in Black Mirror Season 7. (© Netflix)

According to Brooker, who introduced the series with a very-British bang in 2011, season 7 is ‘a little bit OG Black Mirror’. ‘It’s back to basics in many ways,’ the writer said. ‘They’re all sci-fi stories, but there’s definitely some horrifying things that occur, but maybe not in an overt horror-movie way. There’s definitely some disturbing content in it.’

Here Brooker is referring to the palpable horror influences in season 7: murderers, the devil, werewolves, guns. In contrast, while earlier episodes of Black Mirror were certainly horrifying – think Liam’s mental torture in ‘The Entire History of You’ (season 1), Kenny’s disturbing crimes in ‘Shut Up and Dance’ (season 3), or the surveillance of Sara in ‘Arkangel’ (season 4) – this stemmed from the unsettling nature of these very-possible dystopian futures rather than pure fearfactor.

First Look At Black Mirror Season 7

First look at Cristin Milioti in Black Mirror Season 7

Cristin Milioti in Black Mirror Season 7. (Netflix)

Awkwafina & Harriet Walter in Black Mirror season 7. (© Netflix)

Issa Rae in Black Mirror season 7. (© Netflix)

Chris O’Dowd & Rashida Jones in Black Mirror season 7. (Netflix)

Who Will Star?

With the return of ‘USS Callister’ comes the return of its cast: ‘Normally, I kill off all the characters at the end of an episode, and I kept some of ’em alive,’ Brooker said at Geek Week. ‘I’m growing as a human.’ Of course, Daly (Jesse Plemons) is dead and won’t return – but it seems Plemons’ co-stars Cristin Milioti, Jimmi Simpson and Billy Magnussen will return for the sequel.

Across the remaining five episodes, a star-studded cast has been teased – which Brooker describes as ‘an embarrassingly stacked cast’. This includes:

Peter Capaldi
Will Poulter
Emma Corrin
Patsy Ferran
Harriet Walter
Rashida Jones
Issa Rae
Awkwafina
Milanka Brooks
Paul Giamatti
Lewis Gribben
Osy Ikhile
Siena Kelly
Rosy McEwen
Chris O’Dowd
Paul G. Raymond
Tracee Ellis Ross
Jimmi Simpson

Brits and ‘OG Black Mirror’ fans will be pleased to see this ‘stacked cast’ is also stacked with Brits, from Succession’s Harriet Walter to newcomer Patsy Ferran, The Crown star Emma Corrin and Twelfth Doctor Peter Capaldi. Plus, if that cryptic teaser is anything to go by, fellow Brits Ben Bailey Smith (aka comedian Doc Brown), Bilal Hasna, Danielle Vitalis, James Nelson-Joyce and plenty more will also star.

Taking a look at those stills, we can also connect the dots and see who will be starring alongside who. For one, it seems Chris O’Dowd, Rashida Jones and Tracee Ellis Ross will all star in one episode, while another seems to star Issa Rae, Emma Corrin, Awkwafina and Harriet Walter. Only time will tell where and when everyone else pops up – including a long-haired Peter Capaldi.