Why ‘Black Mirror’ Creator Charlie Brooker ‘Deliberately Upended’ Plans for Season 6

First, the really good news: After a four-year hiatus, Black Mirror, one of the most acclaimed, and often chilling, anthology series on television, has returned for a sixth season.

Now for the really scary news: You can expect creator and writer Charlie Brooker’s Twilight Zone-esque tales about the interaction between humans and technology to be just as eerily good and prescient as ever, not to mention highly inventive.

“I’ve always felt Black Mirror should feature stories that are entirely distinct from one another, and keep surprising people—and myself—or else what’s the point?” Brooker told Tudum.

There is, however, one caveat: Expect the five new episodes to be even more out there. “Partly as a challenge, and partly to keep things fresh for both me and the viewer, I began this season by deliberately upending some of my own core assumptions about what to expect,” Brooker continued, adding that this season we’ll see “a few new elements, including some I’ve previously sworn blind the show would never do.”

Big names bring the plots to life: Aaron Paul and Josh Hartnett lead a 1969-set space mission drama; Zazie Beets plays a troubled starlet chased by paparazzi; and Annie Murphy is cast as a woman whose life is fodder for a hit TV series starring Salma Hayek.

Brooker is as excited as the Black Mirror faithful and eager to see fan reaction. “I can’t wait for people to binge it all and hope they enjoy it,” he said, “especially the bits they shouldn’t.”

This is an excerpt from TV Insider’s July issue. For more in-depth, reported coverage devoted to streaming shows from the publishers of TV Guide Magazine, pick up the issue, currently on newsstands, or purchase it online here. You can also subscribe to TV Insider Magazine here now.

Black Mirror, Season 6, Available Now, Netflix