Excitement is building forBlack Mirror’s upcoming seventh season, which drops on Netflix in April 2025. There’s an extra level of anticipation for this season’s newBlack Mirrorepisodes in particular, given that the anthology series is set to release its first ever sequel episodes in season 7. Season 4’s virtual reality-themed classic USS Callister is getting a follow-up episode, and Will Poulter’s video game designer Colin Ritman is also set to return with a sequel story, following his appearance in Black Mirror’s interactive movie,Bandersnatch.
Yet, these aren’t the only twoBlack Mirrorstories that merit further exploration in a sequel episode. While many of the show’s episodes are self-contained TV masterpieces that leave little room for the revival of their characters or plots at a later date, the storyline of one ofBlack Mirror’s best episodesis just begging to be continued. In 2016, Bryce Dallas Howard fronted an episode that focused on the corrosive and potentially catastrophic effects that courting popularity on social media can have. Nine years later, thisBlack Mirrortheme is even more relevant than when the episode was released.
Black Mirror’s Brilliant Season 3 Episode “Nosedive” Ended On A Cliffhanger
Bryce Dallas Howard’s Character Lacie Is Stuck In Jail
In the episode “Nosedive”,Bryce Dallas Howard’s character Lacie Pound lives in a dystopian near-future environment in which people rate one another for every interaction they share, whether physical or digital. This personal ratings system has become so pervasive in Lacie’s world that it’s literally the currency people need to buy things and gain access to places and events. InBlack Mirror’s customary style, the episode takes a reality of the social media age we live in and warps it to its logical, terrifying conclusion.
At the end of “Nosedive”, Lacie crashes her social-climbing friend’s wedding because she doesn’t have a high enough personal rating to enter through the front door. She gets arrested and jailed for trespassing at a private event, buther fate is then left hanging in the balance. She meets a man in the neighboring jail cell, who seems similarly frustrated with the fake, ratings-based world they’re both forced to live in, and the two of them scream expletives at each other as credits roll.
7 Times Black Mirror Episodes Had A “Happy” Ending
While the majority of Black Mirror episodes end on a bleak note, there are a few episodes that stand out for their happy ending.
Following this somewhatfrustrating cliffhanger, we’re left wondering what happens to Lacie and her newfound acquaintance, and whether their initial shouting match leads to a friendship, alliance or a romantic relationship. What’s more, there’s so much still to be explored through the episode’s dystopian conceit of a society based entirely on superficial popularity ratings.“Nosedive” ends without a definitive conclusionabout such a society, or even to Lacie’s personal story.
Season 4 Episode “USS Callister” And Black Mirror: Bandersnatch Have Sequels In Season 7
“USS Callister” Has Its Own Sequel Episode, While Bandersnatch’s Colin Ritman Returns
Black Mirror’s sequel to “USS Callister” is the biggest talking point ahead of the show’s season 7 release on Netflix. The first episode of season 4, “USS Callister”, stars Jesse Plemons as genius video game designer Robert Daly, who secretly plays a modified version of his company’s multiplayer game at home, involving versions of himself and his work colleagues.
The episode concludes in an open-ended fashion unusual forBlack Mirror, with its characters apparently embarking on a new adventure, and a cameo by Aaron Paul teasing a possible sequel. The sequel to “USS Callister” has come to pass nearly seven and a half years later, two years after Paul played a starring role in the unrelatedBlack Mirrorepisode “Beyond the Sea”.
Meanwhile, the 2018 interactive movieBlack Mirror: Bandersnatchalso appears to be getting some form of follow-up in season 7, with another of the show’s game designer characters set to return in a new episode. Will Poulter’s Colin Ritman is a cynical and misanthropic but widely celebrated tech genius whose actions in the movie’s multiform narratives raise questions about free will and its relationship to technology.It’s not yet clear when or how Ritman will return inBlack Mirror’s season 7, but his return suggests the revival of at least one more storyline from the show’s past.
Black Mirror’s “Nosedive” Deserves A Sequel Just As Much As “USS Callister” And Bandersnatch
The Episode’s Flawless World-Building And Characterization Of Lacie Deserve A Solid Conclusion
Now that the “USS Callister” and Bandersnatch follow-ups have opened the floodgates,there should be nothing to stop other unresolvedBlack Mirrorstorylines from being revisited. The previous cliffhanger episode most worthy of a sequel is surely “Nosedive”, given just how painfully relatable Lacie Pound is as a character, and in light of the note her story ends on. “Nosedive” is one ofBlack Mirror’s most ingenious episodes, with a technological plotline that is both watertight and highly entertaining.
The meticulous construction of the dystopian world Lacie inhabits, as well as her relatability as a character, make it all the more disappointing when “Nosedive” ends without any meaningful conclusion to its story.
Lacie’s world feelssurprisingly real for aBlack Mirrordystopia, and the desperate decline of her personal popularity via a ubiquitous digital rating system seems more plausible than most other conceits the show has come up with, which makes it all the more terrifying. The meticulous construction of the dystopian world Lacie inhabits, as well as her relatability as a character, make it all the more disappointing when “Nosedive” ends without any meaningful conclusion to its story. On the other hand,it’s this cliffhanger ending that leaves room for a sequel episode.
“Nosedive” Is Even More Relevant Than When The Episode First Came Out
The Episode Prefigured The Age Of The Influencer
In addition to its open-ended narrative,Black Mirror’s season 3 episode “Nosedive” addresses themes which are more relevant today than they have ever been. A sequel to the episode would work on a whole other level, in the age of the influencer we now inhabit.Predicting the future in trueBlack Mirrorfashion, the episode foreshadowed this age, as well as the full marketization of social media, which was still years away in 2016.
Influencers and social media marketing were already big business in 2016, but they weren’t the all-encompassing juggernauts they are today.Influencers and personal branding are now everywhere you look, playing a key role in everything from presidential elections, to tourism and dining trends, to the music and TV industries.
However, since “Nosedive” aired, there’s also been a key shift away from the social media phenomenon of positive ratings that Bryce Dallas Howard’s character experiences. A sequelBlack Mirrorepisode could address the fact that “likeability” is no longer the defining characteristic of digital popularity. Polarizing and polemical online figures who are disliked just as much as they’re liked now tend to be the most popular. This is just one of many aspects of the episode’s profoundly thought-provoking concept, that the show could, and should, return to.
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Black Mirror is a dystopian anthology series that explores the unsettling and profound impact of modern technology on society. Premiering in 2011, it examines various scenarios where technological advancements intersect with human nature, creating thought-provoking narratives about contemporary and future issues.
