‘Black Mirror’ season 6 now in development at Netflix – report
A new season of Netflix’s dark sci-fi anthology series Black Mirror is now in development.
As reported by Variety, screenwriter-producer Charlie Brooker’s acclaimed dystopian show is returning to the streaming platform for a sixth season, with casting now underway.
Citing a source close to production, Variety said that the latest season “is even more cinematic in scope, with each instalment being treated as an individual film.”
“This is, of course, in line with recent seasons of Black Mirror, for which episodes usually exceeded 60 minutes and had incredibly high production values,” it said.
Plot details are still being kept under wraps but Variety noted that the upcoming season will have more episodes than the show's fifth season.
Unlike Black Mirror’s previous seasons, the sci-fi series’ fifth season only comprised of three episodes: Striking Vipers (Anthony Mackie, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), Smithereens (Andrew Scott. Damson Idris, Topher Grace), and Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too (Angourie Rice, Madison Davenport, Miley Cyrus).
Prior to the dystopian show's season 5, Black Mirror released its interactive film Bandersnatch in 2018, which starred Fionn Whitehead, Will Poulter, Craig Parkinson, Alice Lowe, and Asim Chaudhry.
Meanwhile, Variety also noted that the new season of Black Mirror is now being produced under Brooker and Annabel Jones’ own production company Broke and Bones after the duo departed the Endemol Shine Group-backed production company House of Tomorrow in 2020.
The publication noted that Brooker and Jones' departure from House of Tomorrow prevented them from producing more seasons of Black Mirror for Netflix as the rights of the show remained with Endemol Shine Group.
“That arrangement effectively prevented Brooker and Jones from producing any more seasons for Netflix until a deal was hammered out with Banijay,” it said.
Fortunately, a deal was reached and Banijay Rights agreed to license Black Mirror to the streaming platform. Variety, however, said that Netflix and Banijay both declined to comment on the story.
The latest development came almost two years since Brooker shared in an interview that he’s taking a hiatus from penning new episodes for Black Mirror, saying audiences may not have the “stomach” for dystopian stories as people all over the world deal with the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“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. I’m sort of keen to revisit my comic skill set, so I’ve been writing scripts aimed at making myself laugh," Brooker shared.
While taking a break from producing episodes for Black Mirror, Brooker released a mockumentary show titled Death to 2020 on Netflix, which starred several fictional characters discussing major events like the COVID-19 pandemic and the US presidential election.
A sequel, aptly titled Death to 2021, was later released on the streaming platform and starred Hugh Grant, Joe Keery, William Jackson Harper, Lucy Liu, Tracey Ullman, Samson Kayo, Stockard Channing, Cristin Milioti, Diane Morgan, and Alistair Green.
All five seasons of Black Mirror are now streaming on Netflix.