Black Mirror fans were stoked to learn that the ensemble cast of Season 4's "USS Callister" will be reprising their roles in Season 7. Series creator Charlie Brooker explained why they developed a continuing story for that episode.
Black Mirror Season 7 will include a sequel story to "USS Callister," Season 4's Emmy Award-winning episode. A previous teaser revealed new actors will appear in the upcoming season, and keen-eyed fans immediately noticed the "USS Callister" cast was included in the lineup. In an interview with Collider, series creator Charlie Brooker confirmed that episode ended with a tease of more stories to explore; and unlike most of Black Mirror's installments, "USS Callister" featured protagonists audiences immediately rooted for. Classic sci-fi fans also warmed up to the Star Trek homage and adaptation.
Brooker said they knew they were onto something special even as they were filming "USS Callister." "I think when we first did it, we were like, 'Oh, this could [work],'" he recalled. "We love the characters and the cast were so great and just great people." Cristin Milioti (The Penguin), Jimmi Simpson (Westworld), and Jesse Plemons (Breaking Bad) headlined the cast of "USS Callister" with co-stars Michaela Coel (Star Wars: The Last Jedi), Milanka Brooks (Benidorm), Osy Ikhile (Citadel), Paul G. Raymond (Horrible Histories), and Billy Magnussen (No Time to Die). The episode also featured Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) in a very brief role, and Kirsten Dunst (Civil War) in an uncredited cameo.
A New Frontier Awaits The USS Callister's Crew
Brooker said the ending of "USS Callister" also teased a new adventure for the spacecraft's "resurrected" crew. "...The way it ended, it kind of ended with a new chapter starting for them — because they flew through a wormhole off Daly's computer, and they found themselves in this infinitely generated video game universe," he explained. "That's where it ended, with them in a whole new frontier." That would have been a fitting wrap-up for the episode, but Brooker saw the potential to expand on the story and even create lore. "...It felt natural to pick it up from there, and it was something we were wanting to do for a long time," he asserted. "It was quite difficult to get all the stars aligned to do it."
"USS Callister" took after the premise of "Be Right Back" and "White Christmas," which depicted human consciousness as a replicable commodity to be leveraged and exploited. Plemons' character Robert Daly created digital "duplicates" of his co-workers out of spite for how they treated him in the real world; Daly used these duplicates as subservient characters in his modified, self-contained version of "Infinity," a space simulation game similar to Starfield and No Man's Sky. The episode's premise is also inspired by Harlan Ellison's sci-fi horror short I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream, which is told from the perspective of the last human perpetually tortured by an omnipotent supercomputer.
Seasons 1 to 6 of Black Mirror is streaming on Netflix. Season 7 currently does not have a release date.
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