It’s officially happening! Black Mirror is once more making its way into our lives, promising more chilling narratives than ever. Netflix just dropped the official trailer for the upcoming fifth season of the show. While creator Charlie Brooker admitted he had to take a step back from completing season 5 to give full attention to Bandersnatch, fans can now relax.
The anthology series is giving signs that it will come back with a bang, promising a never before seen all-star cast, compelling storylines, and all the ingredients needed to keep audiences gripping the edges of their seats. There’s still not much information on what we can expect from the new season, but with the trailer dropping, it’s now possible to pick up on a series of little details to form a bigger picture. Curious to see what the future reserves for Black Mirror? Here are 10 things we learned from the trailer!
We Got A Premiere Date
After anxiously awaiting any news they could get their hands on, fans can finally sleep at night knowing that the premiere of the fifth season of Black Mirror is near. After Bandersnatch, we were left with a bitter-sweet feeling in regards to what is arguably one of the best shows on TV, but apparently, showrunners haven’t been sleeping much.
One of the episodes was even filmed before they picked up Bandersnatch, which shows just how much quality we can expect to see - maybe even superior to what we’re used to. According to the trailer, season 5 will have its worldwide premiere on June 5th, 2019. That’s less than a month away!
There Will Be Three Episodes
This time around, Black Mirror is sticking to its roots. In a similar fashion of the first couple of seasons, we will be blessed with three episodes. From what we can grasp through the trailer, everything is, obviously, centered around technology, and its impact on the lives of people. each character seems completely different from the other and facing its own personal nightmare.
No synopsis has been released for any of the episodes, although we do have the title of the first two: Striking Vipers and Smithereens. In good old Black Mirror fashion, the titles don’t make much sense and probably won’t do so until we actually get to see the show. But still, three brand new episodes? That’s pretty awesome.
Miley Is Making An Appearance…
There have been several rumors circulating for a while in regards to Miley Cyrus’ potential appearance on the show. It was teased, but no one ever confirmed or denied, probably to add to the excitement of people watching the trailer for the first time. And boy, did it work! Everyone is pretty excited to see how Miley will hold her own in a show like Black Mirror.
The trailer does give a few things away (more on that soon) but it’s still not completely clear how she will fit into the story. Miley is only one of the people who make up this season’s star-studded cast, and it will be interesting to see what each of them brings to the table.
And So Is Andrew Scott
On the topic of cast and stars, there’s another fan favorite that will be the center of one of the episodes for this season. Sherlock’s Andrew Scott, everyone’s favorite Moriarty, joins Miley Cyrus and Anthony Mackie of Avengers fame on this new, exciting adventure.
From what the trailer shows us, Scott’s character seems to be borrowing some of the traits that helped him bring Moriarty to life, which is an interesting choice, to say the least. This isn’t the first time Black Mirror brings a well-known actor on board, but it’s definitely the first time it does so in such a short amount of time.
Everyone Is Struggling
It wouldn’t be Black Mirror if everything was just fine and dandy now, would it? And we wouldn’t have it any other way; after all, what got us hooked on the show in the first place is how raw and visceral it is, leaving the audiences feeling an impending sense of doom during the episodes, and several hours - and even days - after.
So obviously, the new season won’t be any different. Right off the bat, everyone is struggling with something, and it ends up invariably involving technology. We get some smiles, but mostly action and a lot of worried, sad, on-edge facial expressions. This will definitely make for good TV… and probably a few sleepless nights.
There’s A Pop Star
Miley Cyrus’ character will indeed hit pretty close, in at least one way. While the looks of the character say Katy Perry more than they scream Miley (especially with that pink hair), her character is actually a pop-star, a reality Miley couldn’t be more in tune with, considering she’s been doing this since she was pretty much a child.
From the few shots we get of Miley, one is on stage, where she’s playing her celebrity persona, while another seems more personal, and dives deeper into whatever issues the character might be having. It’s nothing but a close up of her sitting on the pano and looking a bit undone, but from what we get about the rest of the episode, the underlying meaning is probably deeper.
An Unlikely Friendship
The episode Miley stars in sees her pop-star character release a robot-doll designed to increase people’s self-esteem. Her narrative somehow ties down with the one from a young girl, who is lonely, doesn’t have any friends, and appears to be an outsider from every perspective that we get.
The only time we see her smile is when she’s interacting with the robot, and the two seem to be well on their way to form an interesting friendship… that surely won’t end very well for at least one party. The theme for this episode will probably be centered around body image, but with some sort of twist in between.
We See A Marriage In Trouble
Anthony Mackie’s episode seems to focus on his marriage, one that, by what we get to see, seems to be heading towards a very ugly spot. We see his character and a friend looking at pictures of other women on his phone, in a clear reference to social media channels such as Instagram, that often depict a distorted reality of people’s image.
The episode will most likely tackle the problem of social media in relationships, and the dissatisfaction that often arises among people who spend too much time comparing the reality of their relationships and significant others with what they see online. There’s a heartbreaking moment when Mackie’s character’s wife asks “what is it? Is it me?” further suggesting this is what the episode will focus on.
A Police Showdown
As we’ve mentioned before, Andrew Scott’s character seems to take some of the traits of Moriarty and uses them for his character on the show. His storyline seems to center on a man who is fed up with the way the world has evolved, towards a society who is obsessed with technology and can’t seem to focus on anything else than their phones.
We see him acting mad, and this madness apparently leads to him kidnapping a child and becoming a fugitive in order to wake people up and look at the real world instead. The trailer gives us quite a few peeks into his showdown with the police and, ironically enough, of people filming the whole things with their phones.
VR Is In The House
We get very little of this, and it’s pretty hard to figure out exactly where it fits, but the trailer does show us some sort of virtual reality combat game, that defies everything we’ve seen so far. There’s a shot of someone wearing a white suit and virtual reality glasses, and immediately after we’re transported to another reality, where two characters are fighting.
With everything we gathered from what the episodes will consist of, it’s hard to try and comprehend where the virtual reality combat game comes in, and how it ultimately becomes a significant part of the narrative. Either way, it’s there, and we simply can’t wait to see what it means!
