New season of Black Mirror will include a sequel to Star Trek riff "USS Callister"

Charlie Brooker's sci-fi anthology show Black Mirror has been running on Netflix for six seasons now, continually asking the question, "Is this piece of technology you use secretly sinister?" and unfailingly answering with, "Yes."

Black Mirror is The Twilight Zone for the 21st century, and it's produced some great episodes over the years. Easily the one I enjoyed the most was the opening episode of season 4, "USS Callister," about a maladjusted programmer named Robert Daly (Jesse Plemons) who discreetly steals DNA samples from his coworkers and uses them to make "digital clones" he then forces to act out his Star Trek fantasies in a virtual world. The digital characters start pushing back against his petty tyranny, and the episode ends with Daly dead and them exploring the boundless horizons of the internet. Even for someone who's barely watched any Star Trek in his life, it was a lot of fun.

I mention "USS Callister" because the upcoming seventh season will feature a sequel episode that catches up those characters. There's even a logline provided by The Hollywood Reporter: “Robert Daly is dead, but for the crew of the USS Callister, their problems are just beginning.” I've dipped in and out of Black Mirror over the years, but I'll check that out.

In addition to Plemons, the cast of "USS Callister" included Cristin Milioti, Jimmi Simpson and Michaela Coe, plus cameos from Kirsten Dunst and Aaron Paul as the voice of an angry internet troll at the very end of the episode. I hope as many people as possible come back. Who knows? If the second episode is a hit maybe Netflix will just turn this whole Star Trek riff into a proper spinoff. Someone needs to parody Star Trek now that The Orville is is seemingly eternal limbo.

The seventh season of Black Mirror will have six episodes that drop on Netflix sometime in 2025.

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