‘Black Mirror’ Season 5: Everything We Know About Netflix’s Creepiest Show

There’s only one show capable of making us all feel like we should throw away our laptops and move to the middle of nowhere. And it may be returning to Netflix soon. We’ve known for a while that a new installment of Black Mirror is on the horizon, but exactly when can we expect Season 5?

Created by Charlie Brooker and headed by Brooker and Annabel Jones, Black Mirror is essentially what would happen if all your tech nightmares were given a budget of millions. Each episode of the anthology series follows a different story about technology in the future, from a cartoon that’s able to run for Prime Minister to an app that lets people rate their friends. Though each new tale may start off on a cheery and rosy note, by the end of each episode it’s mortifying chaos as the series explores the complicated intersections between technology, automation, and humanity. It’s an intensely dark delight.

And it’s also one you may be seeing on your Netflix account soon. Here’s everything we know about Black Mirror‘s future.

Will there be a Black Mirror Season 5?

Yes because Charlie Brooker doesn’t want you to stop side-eyeing your cell phone just yet. Netflix renewed the series for Season 5 on March 5, 2018.

When will Black Mirror Season 5 premiere?

This is where things start to get a little murky. The only official confirmation we have that Black Mirror may be premiering this year comes from a Bloomberg article. While reporting on Netflix’s latest group of choose-your-own-adventure programming (we’ll get to that in a moment), Bloomberg implied this new season would be released in December. It’s unclear from the article’s wording if that means the piece’s sources confirmed that release date or if Bloomberg assumed there would be new episodes in December because Black Mirror typically premieres in December.

And then there’s the tweet that rocked the Black Mirror fandom. In late November of 2018, a Twitter account called @langdonsslut screen grabbed what they claimed to be an official tweet from Netflix. That tweet listed the Season 5 premiere date of Black Mirror as being December 28 and even teased the name of season’s first episode — “Bandersnatch.” Perhaps this is fake, but it seems odd that a Cody Fern and American Horror Story fan account would spend so much time doctoring this and not, say, gushing about Fern’s glorious Connie Britton hair.

What’s the deal with Black Mirror: Bandersnatch?

We don’t know much about this episode yet besides the fact that it exists. Some eagle-eyed Redditors noticed that Netflix has recently created a movie page for something called “Black Mirror: Bandersnatch.” At the moment the page is fairly blank, only showing Black Mirror‘s patented loading screen, screenshots of past episodes, and the ominous phrase “Be right back.” But when has that ever stopped Black Mirror fans from speculating wildly?

That phrase and those pictures may be a hint that this upcoming movie may be an interconnected episode. After all Season 4’s “Black Museum” was the first episode to confirm that at leasts parts of Black Mirror‘s intricate universe are connected. Wouldn’t it make sense that a new special that’s description is literally the name of a Season 2 episode would follow a similar format?

Then there’s the name “Bandersnatch” itself. The bandersnatch is a fictional creature created by Alice in Wonderland author Lewis Carroll. It’s appeared in several examples of Carroll’s work including the 1872 sequel to Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, and the 1874 poem “The Hunting of the Snark.” Carroll’s original bandersnatch is described as a creature with a long neck and strong jaws that’s extraordinarily fast and unpredictable. It’s unlikely that Black Mirror, a tech horror anthology series, would strictly stick to that interpretation of Carroll’s work. But the word “Bandersnatch” has already appeared in at least one episode of Black Mirror.

In the Season 3 episode “Playtest,” Bandersnatch was mentioned on a magazine cover featured in the episode. Fans are speculating that this literary reference is actually a nod to a rumored 1984 video game of the same name. The much-hyped vaporware project was partially developed by Imagine Software, but it was never released. Instead many believe it was scrapped and that it later served as the basis of the 1986 game Brataccas. Considering Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker’s history of tech and video game criticism, another video game episode really isn’t out of the realm of possibility.

If this is what Black Mirror: Bandersnatch is really referring to there’s a chance we’ll be getting an ’80s episode. Also its exclusion from Black Mirror‘s series page is especially interesting. Does this mean Bandersnatch will be our choose-your-own-adventure episode? Please yes. Choose-your-own-adventure is so retro.

When will Black Mirror: Bandersnatch premiere?

We don’t know. However that original Black Mirror Netflix leak mentioned the episode by name as well as a December 28 premiere date. Fingers crossed the leak was right.

What will Back Mirror Season 5 be about?

The only thing we know for sure is that this season is going to have a choose-your-own-adventure episode and that Miley Cyrus will be starring in an episode. The choose-your-own-adventure episode was teased earlier this year, but Cyrus’ role in the series was officially confirmed in December. During an interview on Howard Stern’s show, the singer didn’t reveal much about the role but she did say it was filmed in South Africa and that she’s playing one character with a lot of different dimensions. “It was the first time that I’ve left somewhere feeling really proud of my work,” she said.

Oh, and this season is certainly going to traumatize at least one innocent viewer. That’s a guarantee.

Watch Black Mirror on Netflix