With a show such as Black Mirror, it seems appropriate to say that we have good news and bad news: the dystopian sci-fi show, which often starts with utopian promises before heading into darkness, is coming back with some exciting news for fans and some bad news for fans too.
Let's start with the bad news: the return of Black Mirror for season seven, originally tipped for late 2024, is now scheduled for 2025, which means we now finally have a set date to look forward to streaming the best Netflix series.
*clicks on demerit button*
The good news: among the six episodes that are coming to the best streaming service, there's Black Mirror's very first sequel. A follow-up to season four's excellent USS Callister episode (more commonly known as the Star Trek parody), which starred Jessie Plemons.
*gives the show one million merits*
Here's what we know so far.
What to expect from Black Mirror Season 7
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the USS Callister sequel will be one of six episodes that make up season seven. USS Callister was the first episode in season four, which wasn't admittedly one of the best Black Mirror episodes, but it still stands out as one of the most liked with a 94% Rotten Tomatoes rating.
In the upcoming sequel, it seems that Jessie Plemons' character, reclusive programmer Robert Daly, is no more. "Robert Daly is dead, but for the crew of the USS Callister their problems are just beginning," Netflix says. The crew's ship is the set of a massively multiplayer online game in which real people's DNA is used to create their in-game clones; I'm not going to put any spoilers in here but this is Black Mirror, so of course things don't go well.
Netflix is very much in tease mode for now. Posting on X/Twitter (see below), it simply said that there are "six new stories, but one looks a little familiar. Black Mirror returns 2025".
Six new stories, but one looks a little familiar. Black Mirror returns 2025. pic.twitter.com/uJmpxEhZH4March 14, 2024
The sixth season of Black Mirror attracted mixed reviews across its run. Some episodes were praised as instant classics, while others were accused of being built around tired genre tropes. That's mirrored in their Rotten Tomatoes scores: 94% for Joan is Awful, 87% for Loch Henry, 81% for Beyond The Sea, a comparatively terrible 60% for Mazey Day and a triumphant finale with the 100%-rated Demon 79. Former Digital Spy editor David Opie wasn't shy about criticising the low-scoring Mazey Day, claiming that it was one of the worst episodes in the show's entire history – although he did say that Demon 79 was one of his all-time favorites.
I'm reminded of another show here: Tales of the Unexpected, the UK series that ran from 1979 to 1988, which spawned a short-lived US equivalent, Way Out that Black Mirror has often been compared to it. What began as a solo Roald Dahl vehicle was widened to include other writers – Dahl himself exited the show after the third season – over its nine-season run, and while it's remembered fondly it was also hugely variable in terms of quality. Even the legendary Lambs to the Slaughter episode, which used a clever and now famous device so a character could literally get away with murder, is oddly paced and strangely structured.
It turns out that making dystopian, twisty fiction gets harder the longer you do it – so it'll be interesting to see whether Black Mirror season seven is more of a Demon 79 than a Mazey Day.
Season seven of Black Mirror will stream on Netflix in 2025.
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