Black Mirror has always been an anthology show. Since the first season aired back in 2011, each season has consisted of entirely unrelated episodes, with no callbacks between seasons, either. Season 7 has changed all that, though.
Will Poulter's eccentric game designer Colin Ritman was a character in 2018's interactive Black Mirror movie, Bandersnatch, but that wasn't the last we'd seen of him, it turns out. He makes an appearance in the fourth episode of season 7, 'Plaything', when games journalist Cameron is invited to preview a mysterious new project that Colin has been working on at Tuckersoft.
"The idea for this episode came first," Brooker tells GamesRadar+. "And then, while writing it, I thought, 'Well, the character Cameron will go to the games company, and wait a minute, what if it was…' Because I really loved writing Colin Ritman – and Asim's [Chaudhry] character Mo, but Will's character Colin Ritman was one of my favorites ever to write in Bandersnatch.
"He's slightly grandiose, somewhat absurd, but also sort of, like, really cool, but weird, nerdy. There was something just mercurial that I found fascinating. So I just wrote him in, hoping that we could get Will back. And he was up for doing it, which was great, because he's such a fun character to write."
Colin Ritman isn't the only familiar face in season 7, either – season 4 episode 'USS Callister' is getting a sequel, which sees Cristin Milioti's programmer-turned-digital-clone Nanette and her crew return to the small screen. Does this mean Brooker is now tempted to revisit other past episodes in future seasons? "Certainly it's fun, because the episodes are all standalone, generally," he says.
"We've done a sequel this season for the first time, and that's partly because if you've come up with a character that you love and you really think the actor is flipping brilliant, you'd be foolish to not want to to continue doing that. It's a fun change for me. So, certainly, there's other characters I'd bring back, and other scenarios I'd re-explore, while also keeping the story mill churning."
Black Mirror season 7 arrives on Netflix on April 10. For more viewing inspiration, fill out your watchlist with our picks of the other best Netflix shows streaming now.
