Black Mirror Refreshed for a Fifth Season on Netflix

Netflix has provided us one more reason to fear the future: Its techno-paranoiac juggernaut Black Mirror will be back for a fifth season, the streamer announced today.

The Emmy-winning sci-fi anthology, whose title comes from the look of a smartphone, computer monitor or other such screen at rest, is somewhat notorious for its often ham-fisted handling of its central theme (technology = dangerous), as well as its reliance on twists. In fact, the show was recently mocked on another Netflix program: The Joel McHale Show With Joel McHale, which spoofed Black Mirror just last week. All that said, the show’s popularity with viewers is hard to argue with, and Netflix makes no apologies for giving the people what they want.

Black Mirror took home its two Emmys at last September’s ceremony, winning both on the back of fan-favorite season three episode “San Junipero.” We ranked that episode—which very well may see a sequel in the show’s fifth season—as one of 2016’s best individual episodes, lauding it as “a love story [infused] with questions about death and the afterlife.”

It’s almost a shame that Black Mirror won’t end with season four finale “Black Museum,” though. That episode found the show deploying a much-needed, self-aware sense of humor while still delivering the dark thrills that made it such a hit, encompassing the series’ many techno-tales in a way that felt satisfyingly final. Here’s hoping Charlie Brooker and company can make a new season that justifies its presence on the inescapable screens that are taking over all of our lives.

Black Mirror’s fifth season is currently without a launch date, but the show’s first four seasons are streaming on Netflix now. See Netflix’s teaser for the show’s renewal below.

The future will be brighter than ever. pic.twitter.com/slVeg3VPd7

— Black Mirror (@blackmirror) March 5, 2018