Since premiering on Channel 4 in the UK in 2011, Black Mirror has grown to be one of the biggest TV shows in the world. Inspired by older anthology series like The Twilight Zone, the show’s dystopian exploration of humanity’s relationship to technology has been both outlandish and scarily prescient, captivating viewers with its satirical reflection of the modern world. Bought by Netflix in September 2014, the show has released five series and one standalone interactive film, winning eight Emmy Awards in the process.
But, much to the chagrin of fans, it has been a while since any new episodes were released. The last time new Black Mirror content was made available was on June 5 2019, when season five dropped with three episodes ("Striking Vipers," "Smithereens," and "Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too"). With Black Mirror usually ‘dropping’ new seasons every year, many were hopeful for new chapters in the anthology series in 2020 but none were released. In fact, there doesn’t seem to be any new episodes of Black Mirror at all on the horizon: for three major reasons, it’s going to be a while before season six is released.
Firstly, ‘now’ doesn’t appear to be the right time for Black Mirror to return: seeing as the show usually offers a bleak and depressing outlook on the current state of affairs, with the world already in dire straights, it may be too much for Black Mirror to drop a new season. Indeed, in an interview with the Radio Times last year, series creator and co-showrunner Charlie Brooker questioned whether “public mood” would suit a sixth season of Black Mirror, and revealed that he had been working more on comedic projects instead. Since Brooker largely has a background in comedy, through shows like Screenwipe and Brass Eye, it makes sense he would be eager to return to the comfort and sensibilities of that genre. In fact, the first of these comedic projects have already been released on Netflix: the negatively-received Death to 2020.
Equally, Black Mirror has been in something of a tailspin for the last few seasons. When the show first premiered in 2011, it was met with critical acclaim, netting a very respectable 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. Initial subsequent seasons did well to match this level of quality (series 2 and 3 received 87% and 86% on the review aggregate website, respectively), but it began to lag further into its run. Bandersnatch, it’s choose-your-own-adventure style film, only mustered 73% on Rotten Tomatoes and season 5 only managed 65%; the quality of Black Mirror seems to be trending downwards.
For most shows, this loss of critical acclaim wouldn’t be totally damning (many sitcoms, for example, remain popular and successful in later seasons despite losing the support of critics), but for a show as expensive as Black Mirror, it may be enough for Netflix to want to stop and rethink. Between the big-name talent the show works with (Miley Cyrus, Anthony Mackie, Andrew Scott, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II all appeared in season 5, for example), the high-end production design and sets, and the need for plenty of VFX, the show cannot be cheap to make, and Netflix probably needs the show to remain ‘good’ (and therefore popular) in order to make a profit. Giving the creators a few years to decompress and polish up some new ideas may be the shot in the arm the series needs, hence the break.
Of course, the most critical reason Black Mirror isn’t returning for a while is that the rights for the show have become split. In January of 2020, Brooker and co-showrunner Annabel Jones announced their departure from House of Tomorrow, Black Mirror’s production company, which is owned by the Endemol Shine group. Deadline reported this split was centred around the issue of intellectual property as, although Brooker and Jones were responsible for the show’s writing and production, the rights to Black Mirror were solely held by Endemol.
Since leaving House of Tomorrow, Brooker and Jones have formed their own production company, ‘Broke and Bones’, and have since signed a long-term contract with Netflix (they produced Death to 2020, for example). However, this new deal left the rights to Black Mirror in limbo, as Endemol retained ownership of the show, leaving Brooker and Jones unable to produce additional seasons unless new agreements are put in place. Since Black Mirror has always been centred around Brooker’s writing, it’s easy to see why Netflix is reticent to move forward with new seasons without him (he has been the show’s guiding creative force since its inception), but unless a new deal is worked out with Endemol, he won’t be returning to the series.
Thus, between the “public mood”, decreasing quality, and split rights, Black Mirror is in something of a gordian knot: no matter how much fans may want a new season, Netflix has multiple fires it needs to put out before the anthology series can return. Who knows – maybe in a few years Black Mirror will return, with new dark reflections of contemporary issues but for now, there won’t be any new episodes for a while.