Black Mirror is set to return to Netflix with a brand-new season. The anthology series created by Charlie Brooker brought its last new episodes to the streaming platform in 2019. While that season only comprised of three stories, it looks like season 6 will follow a similar route, with each episode being a standalone film. Following a three-year hiatus, Variety reports that casting is now underway on the new season, which means it will still be a little while before the show returns to screens.
Black Mirror began as a Channel 4 series in the U.K. and delivered a host of individual stories set in dark and disturbing dystopian futures. Created by comedian and author Charlie Brooker, who also wrote most of the episodes, the show often features technology run amok scenarios and delivers a scathing social satire about current world issues and events. Following its first two seasons, and a one-off special in 2014, the show moved to Netflix, where it saw three more seasons produced, as well as the interactive movie Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. Having been critically acclaimed throughout its run and won a Primetime Emmy three years in a row, Black Mirror’s sixth season was always something that fans anticipated happening at some point.
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Black Mirror’s fifth season was delayed due to the complex nature of Bandersnatch, which was originally meant to be a part of that season. However, the new season did finally arrive in 2019, and included appearances by stars such as Anthony Mackie, Miley Cyrus, Andrew Scott and Yahya Adbul-Mateen II, among others, ensuring that the acting quality in the series remained as high as ever.
Black Mirror Season 6 May Not Have Happened Due to the Covid Pandemic
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While from a standpoint of its audience popularity, and the continued praise and awards being thrown at it, a new season of Black Mirror seemed inevitable. However, in 2020, creator Brooker admitted that he had been more interested in returning to comedy projects as he didn’t believe Black Mirror would be good for the public mood during the Covid pandemic. He said at the time, “I don’t know what stomach there would be for stories about societies falling apart, so I’m not working away on one of those. I’m sort of keen to revisit my comic skill set, so I’ve been writing scripts aimed at making myself laugh.”
However, with the pandemic now all but in the past, it looks like it is time to celebrate by going back into the bleak fictional worlds of the series. Black Mirror’s new season will also mark the first episodes since Brooker and Annabel Jones, whom he partners with creatively on a number of projects, left their old production company and set up one of their own, with the backing of Netflix, who invested heavily in the new company. While Booker and Jones’ decision to move to their own production company caused some rights issues around the show, which were retained by Endemol Shine Group, who were then acquired by Banijay Group in 2020, it seems that any such wrinkles have now been ironed out ahead of new episodes being made.
