Black Mirror Season 7 Will Do Something the Show Has Never Done Before

Charlie Brooker’s beloved sci-fi anthology Black Mirror has never been particularly urgent when it comes to producing new seasons. Since Netflix acquired the series after its first two seasons aired on Channel 4, fresh dispatches from Brooker’s dystopian universe have arrived on an irregular basis. In fact, the wait between season 5 and the most recent season 6 was a staggering (and COVID-assisted) four years. It looks like that’s all about to change, however.

Just nine months after the aforementioned Black Mirror season 6 premiered, Netflix has announced Black Mirror season 7. Not only that, but the seventh season is going to break ground for the franchise in one major way. Check out the official teaser below to see if you spot what we’re referring to:

The six loading symbols presented in that clip represent the six episodes that will constitute season 7. The final symbol looks kind of familiar … as does the hopeful spacefaring score that accompanies it. That’s right: Black Mirror is boldly going back to the world of the USS Callister as seen in season 4 episode 1 “USS Callister.”

Netflix confirmed as much in its press release, which reads: “Charlie Brooker’s dark, satirical anthology series BLACK MIRROR will return for season 7 in 2025 with six brand new episodes, including a sequel to the sci-fi adventure USS Callister…Robert Daly is dead, but for the crew of the USS Callister, their problems are just beginning.”

It’s no secret at this point that Black Mirror exists in its own shared universe. Though every episode of the series tells a distinct story, Brooker and the writers generally make an effort to include Easter eggs and references that suggest that those stories are connected in one way or another. While season 6 didn’t embrace that continuity too closely, Brooker did tell Den of Geek that each episode could be considered “canon” as part of the fictional Streamberry streaming service introduced in “Joan Is Awful.” Still, even with the show’s occasional nods to a consistent timeline, it has never commissioned a flat out sequel. That changes now with this “USS Callister” followup.

Premiering in 2017, “USS Callister” is one of Black Mirror’s best-ever episodes (we have it slotted in at number four out of 28 currently). It stars Jesse Plemons as gaming company CTO Robert Daly. Frustrated with his lack of power in the real world, Daly creates a Star Trek-esque game where he’s the commander of the space-faring USS Callister and all of his co-workers are his subservient crewmates.

Led by new employee Nanette Cole (Cristin Milioti), the sentient digital clones of Daly’s co-workers are able to overthrow their tormentor and take the USS Callister out into the “real world” of Daly’s company’s MMORPG. Viewers never got to see how Nanette and the rest of the Callister crew fared after deposing Robert (save for one brief clip at the end of the episode in which Aaron Paul provides the voice of a rude gamer) but it seems as though we will get to now.

While the prospect of Black Mirror‘s first official sequel is exciting enough to begin with, it’s also nice to know that five other fresh episodes are on the way as well. Will we be able to figure out what those five episodes will be about based on the enigmatic symbols in that Netflix teaser before 2025 arrives? I know I certainly can’t, but I have all the faith in you, internet.