One of the beautiful things about a sci-fi anthology series is that each episode has a distinctive beginning, middle, and end. You have the whole story, the point has been made, and in the case of Black Mirror, the audience is almost always left feeling like they’ve been punched in the gut, or that they need to take a shower. Charlie Brooker‘s near-future cautionary series does such a great job of creating a believable world that it’s almost a shame we only get one drama set in it. Brooker agrees, and he told Variety that the possibility of sequel episodes is closer than you think.
In an episode of the trade’s Remote Controlled podcast, Brooker and co-producer Annabel Jones discussed myriad topics pertaining to the Netflix series, including the tendency for the show to get political (how could it not in this tumultuous environment?) and the importance of the future technology to be believable. In addition, Brooker mentioned sequelizing some of the episodes, naming as an example season two’s “White Bear.”
“White Bear” takes place in a sort of Purge-like dystopia in which people (who deserve it) are placed as the prey in a human-hunting excursion that is filmed and broadcast over the internet. While that episode focused on a woman (Lenora Crichlow) who awakens with no memory and slowly learns not only that she’s part of this “punishmentainment,” but that she actively brought this upon herself, a return to that reality–and possibly following more people subjected to this cruel fate, or even those who mean to overthrow it–would be a great use of the show’s already fully developed premises.
This got us thinking: What other Black Mirror episodes would benefit from a sequel, or to be set in the same universe. Now, savvy people have picked up on the nods in season three that the series more or less already DOES take place in a shared universe, but since none of those ever seem to impact the story, we’re going to say those are just fun things for us to catch.
It might be tempting to return to “San Junipero,” since obviously there are tons of people in that virtual world, and it’s the show’s most lauded and awarded episode. But I think that would be too easy. I’d like to see a return to some of stories that are less self-contained. Something like season one’s “Fifteen Million Merits,” which had people striving for stardom in a world where all they do is ride on stationary bikes to receive credits for things, and pop up ads flooded your whole room if you couldn’t afford to turn them off. Daniel Kaluuya starred in that one and he ended up being the voice of the disenfranchised (while still being part of the system).
Another good one would be “Playtest” from season two. In that episode, a guy submits to being part of a horrific augmented reality game, but he can’t get out of it. It was straight-up terrifying and another excursion into that realm could be fruitful. And that same season’s finale, “Hated in the Nation,” would be perfect for re-visitation, being a police procedural with a technological twist. Really, who wouldn’t want more of Kelly Macdonald solving crimes?
In any case, Black Mirror is returning sometime this year with six new episodes, and we can’t possibly wait to see how much the future is going to suck. What episodes would you want to see get a sequel, thematic or otherwise? Let us know in the comments below!
