Well, the wait for Black Mirror Season 6 is almost finally over, as it was just recently announced that the sometimes haunting, sometimes satirical, but always interesting series will be returning in June of this year.
And, I couldn’t be happier to soon be depressed (because, you know, most of the show is depressing). As an avid The Twilight Zone fan, but also a ‘90s kid, Black Mirror is the closest thing that I have to a modern day version of that series. There's more than just that reason why I’m so pumped, though. Are you ready to nosedive into those reasons? Good, because you might be awarded (but don’t count on it) fifteen million merits once you finish reading.
AI Has Gotten To The Point Where Black Mirror Will Feel Less Prescient And More Here-And-Now
All of the best Black Mirror episodes usually focus heavily on technology, and the disastrous places that we’re heading with it. That said, when looking at the past five seasons and where we are currently, the show doesn’t seem so prescient anymore. Rather, the show’s title is ostensibly more on the nose than ever, as it’s more of a reflection of our current times, rather than the near future.
However, with the recent developments of AI, and with things like ChatGPT encouraging people to leave their spouses, Black Mirror now has a wealth of new material to satirize and pick up on. If anything – and I feel strange saying this – I’m looking for some hope when I watch this new season, as fan-favorite episodes like “San Junipero,” and “Striking Vipers,” actually show some of the positive effects of technology.
Because honestly, our current state of things looks pretty dismal to me, and I’m hoping that the anthology can either make me feel good about technology (like "San Junipero"), or show me that at least it hasn’t gotten that bad yet (like "Metalhead"). Either/or is preferable to our current state for me.
We Might Get Even More Episodes Than In Season 5
According to a Variety article back in 2022, there were inklings that there would be more episodes for Season 6 than there were in Season 5, which only had three.
But, as of right now, there are no set details on just how many episodes we’ll be getting in Season 6. However, even if we don’t get more episodes – which we might not, since the first two seasons also only had three episodes apiece – at least we can expect that the episodes this time around will feel different from past seasons. Or at least, so says the show’s creator, Charlie Brooker. He told Tudum (opens in new tab):
Partly as a challenge, and partly to keep things fresh for both me and the viewer, I began this season by deliberately upending some of my own core assumptions about what to expect. Consequently, this time, alongside some of the more familiar Black Mirror tropes we’ve also got a few new elements, including some I’ve previously sworn blind the show would never do, to stretch the parameters of what ‘a Black Mirror episode’ even is. The stories are all still tonally Black Mirror through-and-through — but with some crazy swings and more variety than ever before.
So, yeah. Maybe, we’ll get more than three episodes this time around, but even if we don’t, at least the episodes we do get will “stretch the parameters" of what this series can even be.
The Cast This Time Around Is Phenomenal
One reason why I suspect that we'll get more than three episodes this season is because the cast of stars this time around is massive. I'm talking Aaron Paul, Annie Murphy, Zazie Beetz, Josh Hartnett, Michael Cera, and Salma Hayek, just to name a few.
Now, while many of these stars could of course appear in the same episode (such as when “Striking Vipers” had Anthony Mackie, Nicole Beharie, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), I’d be kind of surprised that we’d have so much megastar wattage star power in this season, only to cram them all in fewer than a handful of episodes. It’s possible, sure, but I’m banking on there being maybe one or two more episodes this time around, similar to Seasons 3 and 4, with a cast this stacked.
The Last Season Came Out All The Way Back In 2019!
I can’t stress this enough, but the last season of Black Mirror was all the way back in 2019, which was an eternity ago (really, just four years, but still)! Just think, Covid hadn’t even hit our shores yet, and we were still in the midst of the Trump Presidency (two things that I’ll get to in my next and final point). To put things into perspective, back in 2019, I was writing about why we should be nervous about Disney’s live-action Mulan (Remember that?!), which is insane.
The only other show I can think of with such a long gap between seasons is Attack on Titan (the other best show on television), which also had a four year gap (between Seasons 1 and 2). So, I’m just so ready for Season 6 of Black Mirror. It’s time.
I'm In A Better Headspace Now Than I Was A Few Years Back
Lastly, and maybe most importantly, I feel like I’m in a much better headspace than I was a few years back. As mentioned earlier, Covid threw all of us for a loop, and the trauma involved with it was just too much for something like Black Mirror, which is already pretty bleak as it is. And, Charlie Brooker, agreed. In a 2020 interview with RadioTimes, he had this to say:
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.
Which makes perfect sense. Honestly, while I definitely would have watched Black Mirror if it had come out during the pandemic (I mean, what DIDN’T I watch during the pandemic?), I definitely don’t think I would have come away with it with the same feelings that I used to have for it. In fact, I would probably view it as being mean-spirited rather than it being cautionary. So, I definitely agree with Mr. Brooker that we likely wouldn’t have had the “stomach” for it.
Also, not to get too political here, but I was in a bad place, mentally, back in 2019 when it came to America. I don’t want to upset anybody, so I’ll just say that I personally didn’t like what I was seeing in my country. So, I definitely don’t think I wanted to see somebody from outside of this country possibly being critical of what was going on here at the time.
In that way, I’m actually happy – and even pumped now – for Black Mirror to return. I think I’m ready for its casual hellscape.
But, what do you think? Are you also pumped for this upcoming season? For more news on all things Black Mirror, be sure to swing around here often.
