Netflix is about to deliver a belated Christmas gift with a brand new Black Mirror episode – and it’s feature length.
Black Mirror: Bandersnatch is set to satisfy any cravings for Charlie Brooker’s dystopian tales, which moved to the streaming platform two years ago after several years on Channel 4.
While it is not known if Bandersnatch is a standalone film or the first episode in a new series, we do know it will be available to watch in less than 24 hours.
Here is everything we know so far:
What is Black Mirror: Bandersnatch?
Speculation over a new Black Mirror instalment first started with a swiftly-deleted tweet hinting at a December 28 release date. Weeks later, keen Netflix sleuths uncovered a holding page on the site for Black Mirror: Bandersnatch under a banner reading A Netflix Film. The running time was set at 1 hour 30 minutes while the description simply read "Be Right Back," which is also the name of the first episode of series two.
Filming for the latest Black Mirror took place in and around Croydon, London, earlier this year, with residents tweeting letters from the filming company and sharing snaps of shops decked out in 1980s designs.
On Thursday morning, the official Black Mirror page tweeted “Relax” followed by a trailer set to Frankie Goes To Hollywood's hit song Relax.
So, what is it about?
The 90-second clip features a 1980s world, with the story centred around Stefan – who is on medication to stop “vivid thoughts” – as he starts a new job at a computer games company. Bandersnatch is his idea for a new game, sharing its title with a book.
His boss, played by Asim Chaudhry, hints that something unsavoury could be on the horizon, ans asks Stefan (Fionn Whitehead) if the “author was the guy who went cuckoo and cut off his wife’s head”. But Stefan is told to embrace madness in a concept piece.
Stefan – encouraged to work by another colleague (Will Poulter) – then washes his pills away before setting to work on the game. A voice from beyond tells us that Bandersnatch “was the final straw” before leaving us all to wonder what exactly is going to happen.
The official description for the show reads: “In 1984, a young programmer begins to question reality as he adapts a sprawling fantasy novel into a video game and soon faces a mind-mangling challenge. Welcome back.”
Is it based on anything real?
Fans are already theorising about Bandersnatch. The name could come from the creatures in the Lewis Carroll nonsense poem, The Hunting Of The Shark.
It could also, and probably more likely, refer to a 1984 computer game of the same name which never saw the light of day.
It was partially developed by Imagine Software before being shelved and the company collapsing. The remnants of that project are believed to have spawned video game Brataccas two years later.
Right, so is this season five or just a film?
At this point, we’re not sure – and, given that Netflix stayed very quiet on Bandersnatch until the day before, it’s unlikely we’ll know the answer to that question soon. But it looks like Bandersnatch could be a separate project entirely – a complete standalone.
We don’t know anything about a fifth series, but it has been hinted that Miley Cyrus features in some way.
When is Black Mirror: Bandersnatch released?
Bandersnatch will be available from Friday, December 28, exclusively on Netflix. It is thought it will appear for UK and Ireland subscribers from 8am.
