Black Mirror: first trailer for new season offers more tech nightmares
Netflix will bring ‘six electrifying stories’ from Charlie Brooker to the small screen in April with stars including Peter Capaldi and Issa Rae
Black Mirror fans rejoice – or prepare to “lose your mind” and “lose your reality”, as promises a newly released trailer for Charlie Brooker’s dystopian sci-fi series. Netflix released the first previews of the new installment on Thursday, teasing “six electrifying stories” premiering on 10 April.
The trailer continues Black Mirror’s trademark uneasy, foreboding tone, previewing several new entries in a universe of tech gone awry. New stars include Peter Capaldi, Issa Rae, Paul Giamatti, Rashida Jones, Tracee Ellis Ross, Emma Corrin, Awkwafina, Chris O’Dowd and more.
And breaking from precedent, the anthology series will revisit at least a few previous stories in the new chapter, as the trailer shows Cristin Milioti and other characters from then standout season 4 episode USS Callister continue their virtual voyage. Milioti will reprise her role as Nanette Cole, a computer programmer unwittingly roped into a video game by her sinister boss Robert Daly (Jesse Plemons).
Though the original episode ended with the demise of Plemons’s character, several others survived, including Billy Magnussen’s Karl, Milanka Brooks’s Elena and Osy Ikhile’s Nate, all of whom will appear in the new season. Jimmi Simpson, who played a character seemingly sacrificed during the original episode, is also set to return.
Other returning cast include Will Poulter and Industry’s Asim Chaudhry, who will return for their second Black Mirror stints each, in new storylines, after starring in the 2018 interactive special Bandersnatch.
“We’re doing some things we’ve not done before,” Brooker said of the new episodes last year. “People can expect quite a lot of emotion and, hopefully, a good mix of chills. We did a couple of horror stories in season six, which we label as Red Mirror. But this time around, the episodes are all, in a way, like OG Black Mirror. I wrote one script, and the general consensus was that it was one of the bleakest, heaviest gut punches yet. There’s also tech-y episodes and ones that are making people cry. So, hopefully, it’s a full emotional workout, but we shall see. The viewers will be the judge.”
Black Mirror first premiered in 2011 on Channel 4 in the UK, and was purchased by Netflix ahead of its third season in 2016. The show became an international hit, receiving critical acclaim as well as inspiring a slew of lesser sci-fi copycats. In its first five seasons, it nabbed 14 Emmy nominations and eight wins, including outstanding TV movie for San Junipero in 2017, USS Callister in 2018 and Bandersnatch in 2019.
After season 5 premiered in 2019, Black Mirror went on extended hiatus, returning in June 2023 to warm reviews. The sixth season featured star turns by Salma Hayek, Aaron Paul, Myha’la , Paapa Essiedu and others.
Series creator Brooker returned as executive producer for the new season, alongside Jessica Rhoade and Annabel Jones.