It has been a hot minute since the last season of “Black Mirror” hasn’t it? The last we saw of this twisted technological “Twilight Zone” anthology series was in 2019. Here we are now though, four years and one global pandemic later. Maybe now it’s finally a good time to dive back into the horrifying despair that can be brought on by stories of dystopian societies, technological abuse, and a “Star Trek” like-MMO. And if that’s what you’re in the mood for, Netflix has you covered this summer with season six of “Black Mirror.”
Series creator Charlie Brooker is touting this upcoming series as one that plans to “reinvent itself with each new episode.” What that means is anyone’s guess as the series has never really shied away from trying new things. As referenced earlier, the episode “USS Callister” was a unique take on the “Black Mirror” formula by incorporating a heavily “Star Trek” inspired setting and motif, albeit encapsulated in the realm of a video game. Not to mention, this is also the series that gave us the “choose your own adventure” styled film, “Bandersnatch” back in 2018. So God only knows what “reinvention” could mean for this show.
Now, Netflix did drop a trailer for the upcoming season, but good luck trying to figure out what to expect from it; perhaps that’s the point though. There is some brutal imagery at points, like someone’s head and face being slammed through a glass display shelf. We’ve also got Aaron Paul walking through a dark and creepy corridor, some fire, and a dial-up modem. The latter of those is potentially the most terrifying of them all, especially if you grew up in the ’90s. And it’s all set to a cover of the The Ink Spots’, “I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire.”
The fifth season of “Black Mirror” only had three episodes in it. While this upcoming season is slated to have more, no final episode count has been delivered as of yet. For the record, the most episodes in a season stands at six, so it’s hard to imagine there’d be more than that. It also originally comes from the British school of television production where short seasons and years between them is not uncommon. Quality over quantity tends to be the motif, and perhaps season six will follow in those footsteps. It certainly has the cast to do it at least, with names like the aforementioned Aaron Paul, Zazie Beetz, Salma Hayek Pinault, Himesh Patel, Kate Mara, Rory Culkin and many others set to appear.
The sixth season of “Black Mirror” will premiere on Netflix this June.
