‘Black Mirror’ Season 6 Casts Aaron Paul, Josh Hartnett, Paapa Essiedu, Kate Mara & Zazie Beetz

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According to reports today, ‘Black Mirror‘ has found some of its cast for the recently revealed Season 6 of Charlie Brooker’s Netflix anthology series.

‘Black Mirror’ is an anthology series that taps into our collective unease with the modern world, with each stand-alone episode a sharp, suspenseful tale exploring themes of contemporary techno-paranoia. Without questioning it, technology has transformed all aspects of our lives; in every home; on every desk; in every palm – a plasma screen; a monitor; a Smartphone – a Black Mirror reflecting our 21st Century existence back at us.

The already impressive line-up covers three episodes of the show, but more cast are expected to be announced later for further episodes. Today’s reveals include Zazie Beetz (‘Atlanta’), Paapa Essiedu (‘The Lazarus Project’), Josh Hartnett (‘The Fear Index’), Aaron Paul (‘Breaking Bad’), Kate Mara (‘House of Cards’), Danny Ramirez (‘Falcon and the Winter Soldier’), Clara Rugaard (‘The Rising’), Auden Thornton (‘This Is Us’) and Anjana Vasan (‘We Are Lady Parts’).

Due to the secrecy around ‘Black Mirror’, we don’t know any plotlines or who anyone is playing, although the series is thought to be in production at the moment. Interestingly though, out of that cast list, Aaron Paul has featured in ‘Black Mirror’ before, which does raise the question as to whether we might actually see some sort of sequel episode for the first time…

Paul featured in the Season 4 episode ‘USS Callister’ which picked up four Primetime Emmy Awards (spoilers ahead for those of you who haven’t seen it!) That story starred Paul’s ‘Breaking Bad’ castmate Jesse Plemons as Robert Daly, the CTO of a VR gaming company. Daly had recreated his favourite Star Trek-esque tv show in a modded version of the VR system, trapping clones of his most-hated coworkers within the environment to torture and force to do his bidding. The clones do eventually escape into an un-modded version of the game world, apparently killing the real-world Daly in the process. Although they are free to roam in this new universe, they encounter “Gamer691”, voiced by Paul, who is now attempting to take control of this new anomaly.

The episode was so popular that there were a number of rumours that it could potentially be spun off into its own series. That obviously didn’t happen but this could be an opportunity to return. However, it should also be pointed out that Paul is a huge fan of ‘Black Mirror’, and was originally asked to appear in a larger role for ‘USS Callister’, but was unable due to filming commitments elsewhere. He only agreed to voice the part if it would not preclude him from appearing in a later episode in a more substantial part. This may just be the producers living up to that promise, and Paul’s role is something entirely new.

The nearly three-year delay between seasons of ‘Black Mirror’ has been due to some changes behind the scenes. Creator Charlie Brooker and his creative partner Annabel Jones, left House of Tomorrow, the production company backed by Endemol Shine, to set up their own company, Broke & Bones. However, the rights to ‘Black Mirror’ stayed with Endemol Shine. Given that the series is basically a product of Brooker’s warped mind and can’t really be made without him, that left it in limbo. In 2020, Banijay Group acquired Endemol Shine (and ‘Black Mirror’), and has now come to an agreement with Broke & Bones, Brooker and Netflix to produce a new series… It’s just taken a little while to get there!

‘Black Mirror‘ Seasons 1-5 are available right now on Netflix. If you want to keep track of this or any other show, you can add it via our Never Miss system, and you’ll be notified when it gets a UK premiere date.