Black Mirror: Huge ensemble cast announced for season 7 as sequel episode revealed

Prepare for more mind-bending and dystopian telly in 2025 – because Black Mirror is returning with a starry cast for season seven.

In news confirmed this week, Netflix has announced a huge list of names for the forthcoming season, and teased a follow-up to a fan-favourite episode from season four.

Charlie Brooker’s acclaimed sci-fi anthology series, which speculatively explores society’s relationship with technology, is returning with names including Crazy Rich Asians actor Awkwafina, former Doctor Who star Peter Capaldi, The Crown’s Emma Corrin, Insecure’s Issa Rae, Girlfriends star Tracee Ellis Ross and IT Crowd actor Chris O’Dowd.

In news shared during Netflix’s fandom-focused Geek Week, other names announced include Patsy Ferran, Paul Giamatti, Lewis Gribben, Cristin Milioti, Billy Magnussen, Jimmy Simpson, Milanka Brooks, Osy Ikhile, Rashida Jones, Siena Kelly, Rosy McEwen, Paul G. Raymond and Succession actor Harriet Walter.

The new season is also teased to include a follow-up to “USS Callister”, a much-loved opening episode for season four, which aired in 2017.

“USS Callister” followed a troubled computer programmer named Robert Daly (Jesse Plemon) who has a desire to possess his co-workers, by stealing their DNA, feeding it into his computer, and introducing digital clones of them into the world of the USS Enterprise of Space Fleet, where Daly gives himself a Captain Kirk-like vibe as Captain Robert Daly.

Teasing the news at Netflix’s Geek Week, the show’s creator Charlie Brooker told fans they would recognise a “certain spaceship from one of our episodes reappearing”.

He continued: “We’ve done a sequel for the first time in Black Mirror history. Normally, I kill off all the characters at the end of an episode, and I kept some of ’em alive. I’m growing as a human.”

So far, we know that the forthcoming season will consist of six episodes and air on Netflix sometime in 2025.

Brooker told fans the show was going “back to basics” and channelling the “OG Black Mirror”.

“You can expect a mix of genres and styles,” Brooker said. “We’ve got six episodes this time, and two of them are basically feature-length. Some of them are deeply unpleasant, some are quite funny, and some are emotional.”

“We have evolved to a place where it’s kind of OG Black Mirror this season,” he said. “So it’s all sci-fi, techno-dystopia.”

In a cryptic and glitchy video shared on X/Twitter, the Black Mirror account teased the names of the cast as well as directors and writers from previous episodes.

In true Black Mirror style, the caption read: “TCKR_Confidential_NotForDistribution.mp4” as a series of analogue computer images and “loading” messages flash on the screen.

The first two seasons of the series aired on Channel 4 in 2011 and 2013 respectively, before it was acquired by Netflix, where it returned with its latest four seasons.