It took a little longer than expected, butBlack MirrorSeason 5 is officially official. Netflix announced the renewal of the popular anthology series today with a short teaser video that, expectedly, contains no new footage but promises the series will “be right back.”Charlie Brooker’s twisty sci-fi anthology series has had a curious life thus far, as it premiered on Channel 4 in the U.K. and ran for two seasons. In 2014, however, Netflix made those two seasons available to stream, and American audiences ate it up. As a result, the streaming giant made a major play and commissioned two new seasons of six episodes each.
The final six episodes of that deal debuted as Season 4 this past December, and while critical response was a tad more muted than previous seasons, there were still some standout episodes. More importantly,Black Mirrorremains an evergreen idea, so as long as Brooker is willing to keep going (he said in December he’d love to do more), it’s kind of a no-brainer to keep theBlack Mirrortrain moving.
The series is unique in that each episode is a standalone entity, which allows for Brooker and his producers to enlist high-profile filmmakers and actors for the series since they only have a one-episode commitment. Of course the episodes can run as long as 90 minutes so they really are short films at their core, but seeing filmmakers likeJoe Wright,Dan Trachtenberg, andJodie Fosterplay around in theBlack Mirrorworld has been a joy.
Indeed under the Netflix-produced episodes the starpower ofBlack Mirrorhas risen, and this most recent season alone featuredJesse Plemons,Andrea Riseborough, andBlack PantherstandoutLetitia Wright. It’ll be interesting to see what stories Brooker decides to tell and what filmmakers and actors will join him for Season 5, but I can’t wait all the same.
Netflix hasnotannounced aBlack MirrorSeason 5 release date or episode count just yet, but a late 2018/early 2019 debut doesn’t seem out of the question. As for the episode count, the first two seasons were three episodes each and the last two were six, and one imagines that may be as high as these seasons can go while still allowing Brooker his key amount of creative control over the series. Regardless, I can’t wait to see what twists are in store.
Check out theBlack MirrorSeason 5 teaser video below, and for a complete list of TV renewals and cancellations,check out our TV Lifeline.
