“Black Mirror” is coming back, but are we sure that’s a good idea?

August 25, 2017

Exciting news in the world of dystopian TV: Netflix has announced the fourth season of Charlie Brooker’s deliciously technophobic series, Black Mirror. The streaming company today dropped the names, cast details, and a trailer for six new episodes. If you’ve seen the previous seasons, you know that the show—often set in near-future settings where technology runs amok—has proven amazingly prophetic. The most notable example is probably the episode that featured a nihilistic CGI bear who runs for elected office, a scenario some say predicted the Trump phenomenon. Then there was that time in April when Facebook rolled out a beta version of its VR interface Facebook Spaces, which ended up reminded people of a Black Mirror episode where everyone interacted with super-creepy avatars.

So while I’m excited that the show is coming back, I have to admit I’m worried: Given that all these nightmare scenarios on Black Mirror tend to eventually happen in real life, are we really sure we want to bring another season into the world? I mean, are we just asking for trouble at this point? This is worth pondering as we head into another weekend of fake news, conspiracies, social media outrage, and Elon Musk’s warnings about AI.

And while you’re pondering that, check out the trailer below: