Last month, Netflix finally released the first trailer for Black Mirror season 4, which revealed the episode titles for all 6 new stories. The writers, directors, and lead cast for each episode were also revealed. Now, the new issue of Empire Magazine contains an article about season 4, which ends with “Black Mirror season 4 is on Netflix in December.” This is the first solid indication of exactly when season 4 will arrive, as the aforementioned trailer just said “coming soon” at the end. Netflix has yet to confirm or deny the Empire report.
Sources indicated a December premiere date for Black Mirror season 4. It’s never really been a question that a fourth season of Black Mirror was coming, as when Netflix picked up the series a couple years ago, they originally ordered 12 episodes. The initial announcement was that these 12 installments would comprise season 3, but the decision was eventually made to split the load in half, doing a 6-episode season 3 and a 6-episode season 4.
Season 3 debuted last October, and earned praise on the level of past seasons that were produced for the U.K.’s Channel 4. The most buzzed-about episode was ‘San Junipero’, a tale of love that manages to outlast even death itself, as well as a nostalgic trip back to at least an approximation of the 1980s. The episode ended up earning an Emmy nomination and many fans are hoping for a follow-up at some point, although series creator Charlie Brooker says that he feels the story of main characters Kelly and Yorkie is finished.
Saw this in
@empiremagazine today. Looks ace
— Will Bridges (@WjBridges)
Things We Know About Black MirrorSeason 4
1. IT WILL TRY TO PREDICT WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE WORLD.
In February, The Telegraph interviewed Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker, who shared that he and his team were in the midst of shooting season four at that time. He admitted that one of the biggest challenges they face in creating a new season is in trying to “predict” what will be happening in the world by the time the episodes air.
“We’re working on the new season at the moment—we’re about to start filming the third episode in Iceland—so if we were trying to predict the real world, we’d have to think about where the real world’s going to be in another six months or so,” Brooker said.
2. AS WITH PREVIOUS SEASONS, EACH EPISODE WILL HAVE A DISTINCT TONE.
“When we did previous seasons, we realized after we’d done the first two [episodes] that basically each one was a slightly different genre, and we actively approached the first Netflix season like that,” Brooker told The Telegraph. “And we’re carrying that forward [into season four], so we’ve got some strikingly different tones and looks.”
3. IT WILL TAKE A STAB AT COMEDY.
Though he’s tight-lipped about the plot lines the fourth season will delve into, Brooker has confirmed that one episode will go in a comedic direction. “We’ve got one that’s overtly comic, much more overtly comic than anything we’ve done,” Brooker said. “It’s got fairly mainstream comic elements, but also some really unpleasant stuff that happens.” (From the looks of the trailer below, we’re wondering if that episode might be “USS Callister,” which stars Jesse Plemons, Cristin Milioti, Jimmi Simpson and Michaela Coel, and looks to be a play on Star Trek.)
4. JODIE FOSTER DIRECTED AN EPISODE.
Though Black Mirror is hardly lacking in star power, season four sees two-time Oscar winner Jodie Foster step behind the camera to direct “Arkangel,” an episode starring Rosemarie Dewitt, Brenna Harding, and Owen Teague.
News of Foster’s attachment to the show was reported back in October 2016. Brooker says that the episode will focus on a mother-daughter relationship and have an indie movie tone.
“Netflix got in touch with her,” Brooker explained of how Foster came to the series. “She’s done episodes of Orange Is The New Black before, and they spoke to her and sent her our script, and within a week of that we were Skyping. It was a bit odd, to be Skyping with Jodie Foster—but I did a good job of hiding my delight that I was Skyping with Jodie Foster.”
5. THERE WILL BE SIX EPISODES.
As with season three, Black Mirror‘s fourth season will consist of six episodes. While Netflix is keeping quiet on any summaries, we do know their names, titles, and stars:
“Arkangel” stars Rosemarie Dewitt, Brenna Harding, and Owen Teague and is directed by Jodie Foster.
“Black Museum” stars Douglas Hodge, Letitia Wright, and Babs Olusanmokun and is directed by Colm McCarthy.
“Crocodile” stars Andrea Riseborough, Andrew Gower, and Kiran Sonia Sawar and is directed by John Hillcoat.
“Hang the DJ” stars Georgina Campbell, Joe Cole, and George Blagden and is directed by Tim Van Patten.
“Metalhead” stars Maxine Peake, Jake Davies, and Clint Dyer and is directed by David Slade.
“USS Callister” stars Jesse Plemons, Cristin Milioti, Jimmi Simpson, and Michaela Coel and is directed by Toby Haynes.
6. SEASON FOUR MAY NOT BE AS BLEAK AS PREVIOUS SEASONS.
In addition to being one of Black Mirror’s most universally acclaimed episodes, season three’s “San Junipero” installment is also notable for being one of the hit series’ most uplifting episodes … well, as “uplifting” as a show about the many ways technology can be terrifying can be. But the success of the episode posed some challenges for Brooker going into season four.
“I’m terrified of ‘San Junipero’ in a way, because I think we sort of captured lightning in a bottle there,” Brooker admitted. “You try and think, okay, that went really well, what else can we do? But you’ve got to then immediately put everything you think of out of your mind, because you can’t really do the same thing again.”
In addition to making sure that each episode is unique, it’s important to Brooker—and his sanity—that he not be constantly immersed in dark themes. “I do think that at the moment, as we’re doing new episodes, there’s a limit to how much constant nihilistic bleakness I can take,” Brooker continued. “And the world is in a place at the moment where I think maybe people appreciate things that aren’t so unremittingly horrible. But you also don’t want to short-change people on the unremitting horribleness.” …