After months of speculation about exactly what ‘Black Mirror’ had in store for fans in 2018, it’s finally been confirmed that ‘Bandersnatch’ is set to debut on the streaming service on 28 December.
Billed as a ”‘Black Mirror’ event”, ‘Bandersnatch’ is thought to be a stand-alone feature-length film, a trailer for which debuted on Thursday morning, less than a day before the whole thing begins streaming on Netflix.
While giving away predictably little about the plot, there was still a great deal to take away from the trailer, and here are the main things we learned from watching...
1. There are a few familiar faces in the cast
While specific details about the new ‘Black Mirror’ offering have been kept under lock and key, the clip reveals that the new instalment will be led by Fionn Whitehead, best known for his prominent role in Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dunkirk’, as Stefan.
Also featured are Will Poulter of ‘The Maze Runner’ and the biggest surprise of all, Kurupt FM’s own Asim Chahdhry, who stars as the owner of the video game company that employs Stefan to help with the mysterious ‘Bandersnatch’ project.
Not featured is Miley Cyrus, who has been repeatedly rumoured to be featured in an upcoming instalment of ‘Black Mirror’, though this was never confirmed to be ‘Bandersnatch’, and might be a different forthcoming episode.
2. The plot will centre around a video game
When ‘Bandersnatch’ was first teased last week, many questioned whether it would centre around the video game of the same name, which was announced to be in the works back in 1984, but was mysteriously never actually released.
The trailer now confirms this to be the case, with lead character Stefan being tasked with making a video game adaptation of a fictional novel with the same name. This being ‘Black Mirror’, though, things do not look like they’re going to go smoothly for our hero.
In the comments on the trailer’s YouTube page, some ‘Black Mirror’ fans have suggested it may also reference the ‘Polybius’ urban legend, which also relates to video gaming.
3. There are plenty of retro elements
After the 80s aesthetic of ‘San Junipero’ went down a storm in 2016, Charlie Brooker is giving us a huge throwback in ‘Bandersnatch’, but this time things will be a little closer to home with a more British feel.
The ‘Bandersnatch’ trailer is peppered with authentic-feeling 80s references, including the nostalgic high street set that was filmed in Croydon earlier this year (the episode itself has now been confirmed by Netflix to be taking place in 1984).
4. ‘Black Mirror’ has nailed it with its soundtrack once again
But it’s not just the fashion and technology that is throwing it back to the 80s, with music clearly also playing an important part in setting the scene too.
‘Black Mirror’ is known for its attention to detail, and past episodes have made great use of music in the past (who could forget the euphoric blast of ‘Heaven Is A Place On Earth’ at the end of ‘San Junipero’, or the devastating inclusion of Radiohead’s ‘Exit Music (For A Film)’ as ‘Shut Up And Drive’ reaches its stomach-churning conclusion?).
The trailer for ‘Bandersnatch’ is soundtracked by Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s ‘Relax’, which topped the charts in – you guessed it! – 1984, and given that Netflix tweeted out the lyrics to the chorus when the trailer was first shared, it’s a safe bet the song will be prominently featured in the episode itself.
5. We should expect some allusions to past episodes
Even though every episode of ‘Black Mirror’ features a completely different cast and a whole new set of dystopian adventures, the show has never been afraid of referencing its past episodes, particularly in the series 4 episode ‘Black Museum’, which was littered with nods to previous instalments.
The ‘Bandersnatch’ trailer alone features two prominent nods to previous episodes, most obviously when Stefan and his new boss are seen talking in front of a poster for something called ‘Metl Hedd’, an obvious throwback to series 4′s ‘Metalhead’.
Also buried in the trailer is a brief shot which shows the ominous symbol first introduced in ‘White Bear’, which looks to have been recreated in blood in a flashback sequence.
6. ‘Choose your own adventure’ hints
Earlier this year, it was reported that Netflix was trying its most ambitious stunt yet with a new episode of ‘Black Mirror’, by including a feature that would allow viewers to choose their own ending as the story unfolds.
While the show’s co-creator Charlie Brooker has recently said that he was planning “the most complicated thing” the show has ever attempted for a forthcoming instalment, this trailer features several small hints that this will be the episode in which the “create-your-own adventure” feature is introduced.
As well as the tagline “change your mind, change your life, change your past, your present, your future”, the episode ends with a mysterious figure on Stefan’s TV, telling him “your fate has been dictated... you’re not in control”.
He might not be... but it sounds like we will be this time around.
7. There are a fair few Lewis Carroll references, too
The ‘Bandersnatch’ is a fictional creature first introduced in ‘Alice In Wonderland’ creator Lewis Carroll’s poem ‘Jabberwocky’, with the author’s imagiantive and psychadelic world appearing to be a big influence on the episode as a whole.
As Stefan’s perception of reality seems to be shifting, he’s seen putting his arm through a mirror (a nod to ‘Through The Looking Glass’, Carroll’s second ‘Alice’ novel), while he also meets characters that make him question his own identity, just like Alice when she first touches down in Wonderland.
Heavily featured throughout the trailer are red and yellow pills (a potential “one side makes you larger, and one side makes you small” reference), which Stefan seems reluctant to take, while Will Poulter’s character urges him that “a bit of madness” is what he needs to help with the ‘Bandersnatch’ project, “madness” being a keyword in ‘Alice In Wonderland’.
‘Black Mirror: Bandersnatch’ will begin streaming on Netflix on Friday 28 December.