'Black Mirror' set to make a terrifying return to Netflix with original creators

By Andre Mathis

Finally, a new season of sci-fi horror hit Black Mirror is once again ready to hold up the mirror to society on Netflix. According to Variety, original creator Charlie Brooker and longtime executive producer Annabel Jones are set to deliver new episodes, with the anthology show "shaping up," and casting "now underway."

The show's unique twist on the unforeseen dread of technology has been missing for the past three years, with a truncated Season 5 dropping just three episodes in June of 2019. As of right now, the new season is scheduled to have more episodes than the previous season, and is reportedly determined to deliver even more cinematic stories, with each new anthology installment "being treated as an individual film."

Apparently, the state of the real world the past few years is the reason that Brooker decided to take a break from the show; instead of making people scared, he wanted to focus on making them laugh. Broker’s inclination towards more comedic work took the form of two mockumentaries, a comedy special, and a cartoon with interactive elements: Death of 2020, Death of 2021, Attack of the Hollywood Cliches!, and Cat Burglar, respectively.

“At the moment, 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,” Brooker told Radio Times back in 2020. “I’m sort of keen to revisit my comic skill set, so I’ve been writing scripts aimed at making myself laugh.”

While the state of the world was a big factor for Brooker to take a hiatus on the show, part of the delay also had to do with production rights. Originally, Black Mirror was produced by Brooker and Jones through their production company House of Tomorrow, which was backed by Endemol Shine Group. In 2020, the two left the company, but the rights to Black Mirror stayed with Endemol – which was subsequently bought by Banijay Group. However once the duo created their new production company, Broke and Bones, Netflix became a key investor. Netflix then licensed Black Mirror from Banijay Group and voila – a new season of terror is born.

Now that Black Mirror is set to make a comeback, we can expect to see the creators return to their roots to bring about a new reign of horror, though we still don't have a production timeline. Weirdly enough, we've actually missed the show's dreadful outlook. Honestly, when’s the last time you questioned your smartphone’s true intentions?

For more dystopian sci-fi fun, try heading over to Peacock and checking out Brave New World.