Black Mirror season 7 potential release date, cast, trailer and everything you need to know

After a long four-year break, Charlie Brooker's hit dystopian series Black Mirror finally returned to our screens in June 2023 for season six — comprised of five new dark and twisty chapters.

The latest batch of episodes may have taken a different approach, shifting away from the horrifying prophecies of technology and towards a focus on the more horrifying source of it all (that being us humans).

But it still managed to keep us all hooked, and on its premiere in June, it sat at the top of Netflix's Streaming Top 10 in 92 countries and spent the next four weeks in their global top 10 for English-speaking TV.

So, if you've already seen 'Joan is Awful', 'Loch Henry', 'Beyond the Sea', 'Mazey Day' and 'Demon 79' and still want more, you're probably wondering whether you can expect another season.

Here's everything you need to know.

It's very good news for fans of Black Mirror – it was reported in November that the dystopian satire has been renewed for a seventh season, alongside speculation that production on the new episodes would begin before the end of 2023.

This report was then confirmed by Netflix in March, with a short trailer posted on the show's social media to break the news, alongside a low-key caption that read: "hip hip hooray".

While the intriguing clip doesn't give much (or anything) away, it includes a vague release date of 2025 for the new episodes – though exactly when next year we don't know yet.

This may sound like an age away, but remember there was a four-year wait for season six, so it shouldn't be a problem to hold out a little bit longer for season seven – right?

We'll make sure to update you as soon as we know more.

Black Mirror season six continued to evolve the bleak anthology series' format by experimenting with a different tone and even retro episodes like 'Beyond the Sea' and 'Demon 79'.

And the show is set to continue experimenting by revisiting a previous story, as it has been confirmed that one of the season seven episodes will be a sequel to season-four story 'USS Callister'.

The 2017 episode saw a tech genius imprison avatars of his real-life colleagues on a retro-TV-themed spaceship, in an exploration of the dark side of sci-fi fandom.

The brief synopsis for the upcoming sequel reads: "Robert Daly is dead, but for the crew of USS Callister, their problems are just beginning."

This announcement maybe shouldn't be a surprise, as Brooker previously spoke to Digital Spy about potential plans to return to the world of 'USS Callister'.

"They're in what we call 'JJ Land' at the end," he said. "They go through the wormhole and end up in JJ Abrams lens-flare land. We don't rule out revisiting them, so we could. But you'd have to have a really good idea."

Plot details for the other new Black Mirror episodes remain a secret for now, but the trailer confirmed that there would be six new episodes – making season seven the longest since season four.

There's no telling what stories Brooker will come up with in the future (though we'd love a peek inside his mind), but he did tell Digital Spy that he wants to change it up even more, revealing that musical and animated Black Mirror episodes could be on the table.

"I've never done an animated episode or a musical episode," he shared. "Actually, weirdly, 'USS Callister' started life – because I was thinking of a story to do with a musical, and it somehow became 'USS Callister'. So sometimes you're aiming for one thing, and you veer off somewhere else."

He continued: "Again, all bets are off, because, again, in this season, we've got some that are almost old-school horror, and we've got some that are retro-futuristic, and we've got ones that are out-and-out comedy. So it's a right mix. So I don't know. Anything. Bloody anything!"

There has also been talk of another interactive episode following 2018's 'Bandersnatch'.

"While we were making it we kept saying, 'We'll never do this again'. And then I guess, perhaps like childbirth, you block out the pain and approach it a second time," Brooker previously told The Hollywood Reporter.

"By the end I was saying, 'Oh I've got an idea'. It's definitely something I would do again and I think there are lots of ways to tackle it."

Season six's star-studded cast included huge names like Aaron Paul, Salma Hayek, Rory Culkin, Annie Murphy and Michael Cera, while previous seasons featured stars such as Miley Cyrus, Bryce Dallas Howard and Daniel Kaluuya.

While no season-seven casting has been formally announced yet, the confirmation of the 'USS Callister' sequel means we may see some familiar faces making a comeback.

The events of the first episode mean that we might not see lead Jesse Plemons as Robert Daly again, but it feels like at least some of the remaining cast are likely to return for the sequel.

This could include the likes of Michaela Coel, Cristin Milioti, Jimmi Simpson, Billy Magnussen, Paul G Raymond, Osy Ikhile and Milanka Brooks.

Brooker has been known to reuse actors in the show, so any previous cast members could potentially pop up again in a future episode.

"There's no rule that says that an actor can't come back to Black Mirror," Brooker said in a Q&A ahead of season six's release.

"We have had some – Monica Dolan is in this season as well, who was in 'Smithereens' in season five. Anjana Vasan, who stars in 'Demon 79' alongside Paapa [Esseidu], she was in 'Nosedive'. Michaela Coel was in [the show] twice. She had a small part in 'Nosedive' and 'USS Callister'. So yes, there's loads of them."

The new social media clip gave the exciting confirmation of season seven, but it didn't exactly reveal much about what to expect from the new batch of Black Mirror episodes.

The 2025 release date means we're probably a long wait off a season seven trailer just yet – but good things come to those who wait. 'Till then, enjoy the season six trailer above.

Black Mirror seasons 1-6 are available to stream now on Netflix.

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Iona Rowan

Freelance Reporter, Digital Spy After completing her joint honours degree in Journalism and English Literature at Cardiff University, Iona joined Digital Spy as a Content Production Intern in 2022. In that role, Iona wrote across both news and features, specialising in TV and movies. Following her internship, Iona now contributes to DS as a freelance reporter. 

 Iona has reported from the Black Adam red carpet, and interviewed celebrities ranging from Love Island stars to the cast of Disney's live-action The Little Mermaid.