Charlie Brooker and longtime collaborator Annabel Jones are returning to Netflix for another season of their dystopian anthology Black Mirror.
They will hope to repeat the success of their previous two Netflix series, which have helped turn the Channel 4 show into a worldwide phenomenon.
Find out everything you need to know about Black Mirror season 5 below…
- Meet the cast of Black Mirror season 4
- Black Mirror season 4 full episode guide
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When will Black Mirror season 5 be released on Netflix?
No release date has been confirmed as yet, and Netflix’s plans for the new episodes are proving strangely elusive.
Charlie Brooker confirmed that filming for the new episodes was underway in March. As season four was released in late December 2017, fans had expected that season five would be released in December 2018.
However, currently Netflix has not mentioned Black Mirror in any of its December release schedules.
That said, the streaming service could be planning to spring a surprise release. A swiftly deleted tweet from an official Netflix sci-fi account reportedly revealed that a new episode of Black Mirror titled ‘Bandersnatch’ would be released on Friday 28th December. Just like in 2017, that would mean that the series would drop just before the new year. Whether this is just a standalone episode or a full series is also a mystery.
Netflix has remained firmly silent about any potential surprise episode however.
What do we know about Black Mirror season five episode ‘Bandersnatch’?
Officially, nothing at all. However, as intriguingly retros set photos from filming earlier this year suggest (see below), the episode could be set in 1980s Britain.
Fans have been quick to theorise about what the title ‘Bandersnatch’ could refer to. A bandersnatch is a character in Lewis Carroll’s Through The Looking Glass and nonsense poem The Hunting of the Snark.
However, perhaps more intriguingly, the title could also refer to a 1984 computer game project that never saw the light of day.
Poster for ‘Bandersnatch’ the game, a project which never saw the light of day — the game was developed in 1984, the same year ‘Bandersnatch’ the Black Mirror episode takes place (which we know as a set photo shows Bob Marley’s ‘Legend’ at #1 on the charts inside a record store) pic.twitter.com/SlzbERQHuR
— Kezia Abigail (@xiurongg) November 26, 2018
And even more intriguingly, the game has already featured in a previous episode of Black Mirror: the title was spotted on the front cover of a gaming magazine in season three’s Playtest.
WHHAAATTTT, Bandersnatch was referenced all the way back in Season 3 on the front cover of the gaming magazine in Playtest 😮 pic.twitter.com/LabQe7dX6v
— Ebejeevezner Scrooge ⛄🎄🎅🎁❄️ (@jeeveswilliams) November 26, 2018
The mystery is adding up, but there’s more: previous reports have suggested that Netflix could be planning a ‘choose your own adventure’ episode of Black Mirror. If Bandersnatch is indeed a reference to an old computer game project, could this be that episode?
Charlie Brooker has already stated that season five features “the most complicated thing we’ve ever done”, so perhaps it makes sense that a single episode would be released in the usual December slot while the rest of season five is completed.
Is there a trailer?
No, not yet. Netflix did, however, release a nostalgic clip featuring footage from previous seasons, to announce that the show would “be right back” with season 5.
The future will be brighter than ever. pic.twitter.com/slVeg3VPd7
— Black Mirror (@blackmirror) March 5, 2018
Has filming begun on the new season?
Yes. Charlie Brooker confirmed this at the Royal Television Society Awards in March. “Season five, we are filming one [episode] at the moment,” he said.
Subsequently, the Black Mirror production crew and cast were spotted filming in south London Croydon in April. Residents were informed of this via a letter which confirmed the show would be occupying the roads of “beautiful” Croydon.
YO CROYDON: Black Mirror is gonna be filmed in St George's Walk next week 😎 pic.twitter.com/pa8VdzUU3L
— Jonny Rose (@98rosjon) April 19, 2018
Who is in the cast?
No casting details have been released yet.
What is going to happen in Black Mirror season five?
Brooker and Jones have been tight-lipped about stories for the new episodes thus far.
However, as mentioned above, set pictures spotted in Croydon suggest that at least one of the episodes will be set in 1980s Britain. Several of the shots show a retro WHSmith kitted out with old school magazines, books and classic vinyl. Check out the pictures below for a gust of nostalgia.
Apparently they are filming a Black Mirror set in The Past, so naturally they're in Croydon. See vintage WH Smith and Chelsea Girl. pic.twitter.com/q54HQZChoT
— Nick Walker (@nickw84) April 21, 2018
Can confirm for @WHS_Carpet that there does seem to be a grubby carpet, but who knows if that will be part of the plot. pic.twitter.com/m01t8VZnOd
— Nick Walker (@nickw84) April 21, 2018
Black Mirror Season 5 | Croydon "1984" pic.twitter.com/m88Sm2miH3
— Jack Frost ❄ (@Josh_Scully) April 27, 2018
There was also a photo from the set which suggests the episode may be called “Bandersnatch”.
To add to your pictures is that they are filming in our building in #croydon today pic.twitter.com/3a18e9HAp7
— Ian Moyse (@imoyse) April 24, 2018
One thing we can be pretty certain of, is that season five will once again be a set of standalone episodes, despite cries from fans for Brooker to produce a sequel to the beloved 1980s utopia-set San Junipero from the season 3.
“In terms of a sequel to San Junipero, no, certainly not in its current form – I don’t think we’d revisit those characters unless we had a really, really good reason,” Brooker told NME. “And I very much doubt that we would do that as an episode. Maybe as a graphic novel or some sort of commemorative biscuit; but we wouldn’t want to pick that apart and tinker with it, as we’d like to leave Kelly and Yorkie where they are.”
Brooker has also suggested that season five could be slightly more politically ‘engaged’ than season four, saying that he “needed the dust to settle” before tackling the era of Trump and Brexit head on.
“It turns out that f****** lunacy is the new norm,” he said.
Black Mirror season five will be released on Netflix… soon
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