Jodie Foster's Black Mirror episode gets an unsettling trailer

Don't worry, 'mother will protect you'

“The key to good parenting is control” in a new trailer for Black Mirror season 4 that is all about “Arkangel,” the forthcoming episode directed by Jodie Foster. Yes, you read that right.

As shown in the footage, released on Saturday by Netflix, Rosemarie DeWitt (La La Land) plays a mom who suffers a waking nightmare when her child, Sarah, goes missing at the neighborhood playground. She soon reappears, but this scare prompts a rash decision in the name of good parenting.

“Response so far is just incredible,” a figure from a mysterious organization tells the mother before injecting something directly into Sarah’s head. “A sense of security, peace of mind. The stories we’re hearing are just truly inspirational.” Of course, there are side effects to wanting to keep tabs on your child every waking second, and one of them appears to be a need to sketch creepy drawings.

“Tone wise, that’s almost within the world of an indie drama — and you could say that’s classic Black Mirror,” showrunner Charlie Brooker told EW of the episode. “It’s about a mother and a daughter and a technological opportunity that comes along that’s seized upon.”

“Arkangel,” written by Brooker, also features Brenna Harding (A Place to Call Home), Owen Teague (Bloodline), and another creepy tagline: “Mother will protect you.”

On securing Foster to direct the episode, Brooker recalled, “Netflix had worked with her before and they suggested Jodie. We were like, ‘Really? You think she would?’ We had a Skype conversation during which I managed to keep my cool and not freak out. She responded to the script and she had a lot of thoughts and suggestions on the characters so there were a lot of adjustments. She’s not just a gun for hire, she’s incredibly intelligent and comes in with some thoughts on the material. Which is what you want in a director because each story is a standalone [episode], so you want each to be idiosyncratic to that director. And she brought a lot of that.”

A premiere for Black Mirror‘s six-episode season 4 has yet to be revealed. Watch the trailer above.

Related Articles