Netflix Renews Black Mirror for Season 5

Netflix has renewed Black Mirror for a fifth season. The announcement was made via a cryptic teaser on the show's official Twitter account, with 12 screens – or black mirrors, as you prefer – showcasing clips from the previous four seasons, then changing to the Black Mirror buffering symbol, and ending with the tagline: "Be Right Back."

That tagline is a reference to the season 2 premiere episode of the same name, starring Hayley Atwell (Agent Carter) and Domhnall Gleeson (Star Wars: The Last Jedi). And showing all the different episodes next to each other further emphasises the one-universe theory of Black Mirror, which was heavily reinforced in the final episode of season 4, "Black Museum", starring Letitia Wright (Black Panther) and Douglas Hodge (The Night Manager).

There's no information beyond that, on how many episodes there'll be in the new season, and when Black Mirror season 5 will release. But given a March 2018 renewal, it's unlikely you'll catch any more dystopian Black Mirror settings before the end of the year.

The latest season of Black Mirror – season 4 – released in the final days of December, and explored topics such as a virtual reality game, extreme helicopter parenting, a unique dating app, privacy and surveillance, and the aforementioned compendium episode "Black Museum". The season was a bit hit-and-miss overall, with certain episodes that felt overlong, and the show getting more violent.

Black Mirror originally began on Channel 4 in the UK, releasing six episodes in two seasons and a Christmas special from 2011 to 2014. Netflix made a deal with creator and writer Charlie Brooker in 2015, which led to 12 new episodes across two more seasons.