Westworld: Original idea for Black Mirror episode was altered

Westworld caused Netflix’s Black Mirror creators to change the original idea for its Emmy-nominated episode, “San Junipero”.

Westworld beat Black Mirror creators to the punch when it first premiered in 2016. At the time, the third season of Netflix’s Black Mirror had not yet been released but creators had a very similar idea for what went on to be a critically acclaimed episode.

For those of you who can’t recall, “San Junipero” was about the love story of two women in a town where the time period is forever stuck in the ’80s. The people living in this town were either dead or on the verge of dying. Basically, this town was a digital version of an afterlife.

If you haven’t seen this Black Mirror episode, we suggest you do–because it was absolutely stunning and amazing! Now, what does this episode have to do with Westworld? Charlie Brooker, the creator of Black Mirror along with other members of the creative team, just released a book called “Inside Black Mirror”.

In it, they spoke in detail about “San Junipero” and how their original idea had to be changed once Westworld premiered. In season 2 of Black Mirror, there was an episode centered around the idea of family and friends being able to contact the deceased.

The Black Mirror team wanted to continue and expand on this concept by essentially having an episode about a theme park that would represent Heaven. Visitors could go to this park and spend time with the ones they have lost and basically vacation with them. Dang, that would have been super cool, right?

Although “San Junipero” ended up going down a very different route, it went on to be one of the most critically acclaimed and recognized episodes of the Black Mirror series. And at the end of the day, we got an amazing episode of Black Mirror and the incomparable series Westworld. So we can’t really complain, can we?

Tell us what you think about Westworld causing an episode’s story to be changed!