The Black Mirror episode “USS Callister” was a huge hit with fans as it was a lot of fun to watch Jesse Plemons channel a deranged version of Captain Kirk.
The Emmy-winning season four episode is widely considered one of the most inventive and layered stories the anthology has ever told. So it’s not surprising that it’s the first Black Mirror installment to get a sequel.
What is surprising? Just how long it took to make that happen—and how different it almost looked.
In a recent chat with Deadline, series creator Charlie Brooker opened up about the road to “USS Callister: Into Infinity,” a feature-length follow-up that drops with season seven next week. And apparently, the story’s evolution was a bit of a saga.
“Of all the stories we’ve done this one ended as though we were setting it up for the sequel,” Brooker said. “It went through various guises but in the end we made it feature length within the season. It took so long getting it together—we had the pandemic, writers’ strike and then had to get everyone’s schedules lined up, and that was its own Rubik’s cube on a unicycle.”
While the delays might have been frustrating, they also gave Brooker time to play with bigger ideas. At one point, he considered expanding USS Callister into either a standalone series or even a full-blown film.
Ultimately, the decision was made to keep it under the Black Mirror umbrella, but push the format—just not the universe.
The original episode ended with the villainous Robert Daly (Plemons) getting exactly what he deserved, trapped in a comatose state in the real world while his digital victims gained control of their virtual lives.
Since Daly’s dead (or, more accurately, brain-dead), he won’t be making a return. But nearly everyone else is back: Cristin Milioti (Nanette Cole), Jimmi Simpson (Walton), Billy Magnussen (Valdack), Milanka Brooks (Elena), Osy Ikhile (Nate), and Paul G. Raymond (Dudani).
The new story picks up with their digital clones, now “stranded in an infinite virtual universe, fighting for survival against 30 million players.”
Regardless of how this story continues, I’m just happy that we are getting a follow up episode!
Black Mirror season seven, and “USS Callister: Into Infinity,” launch April 10 on Netflix.
Source: Deadline
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