This article contains spoilers for the latest season of Black Mirror.
Black Mirror is back – and its new dystopian stories have already won over critics and generated a lot of conversation.
In the lead-up to the return of the award-winning Netflix anthology series, HuffPost UK spent some time with the cast and the crew to find out exactly what goes into making an episode of Black Mirror, and they shared some stories that fans will no doubt find very interesting.
Here are 17 behind-the-scenes secrets the stars of Black Mirror shared with us about the show’s seventh season…
For starters, creator Charlie Brooker opened up about why USS Callister became the first Black Mirror episode to get a sequel
According to the Emmy winner, there were “two reasons” that season four’s USS Callister got this distinction.
Charlie explained: “As the first one ended I was like, ‘oh, I miss those characters’ – I don’t often get to write for returning characters! And it felt like the first one ended at the start of another chapter, so it sort of made [sense].”
“That’s basically why,” he added. “I loved the characters and the cast, and because the story felt like it could continue naturally.”
There is a nod to another episode in USS Callister: Into Infinity to look out for
“We’ve got a couple of human Easter eggs,” executive producer Jessica Roades teased, letting fans know to keep their eyes open for cameos from season six’s Demon 79.
Charlie added this was “probably one of my favourites” of season seven’s hidden details.
Charlie Brooker’s favourite Easter egg of the whole series pops up in every episode of Black Mirror season 7
“I won’t say what it is, because people can then have the fun of hunting it out,” he explained.
There was one part of creating the USS Callister sequel that proved to be a ‘nightmare’, though
Into Infinity reunites most of the original cast from the first instalment in the USS Callister story – and as you can imagine, “getting everyone’s schedules aligned” proved to be a bit of a headache behind the scenes.
Fortunately, the team managed to pull it off, with Cristin Milioti, Jimmi Simpson, Billy Magnussen and even Jesse Plemons (in a surprise cameo) making a return.
“Really early on we were talking about, ‘could we revisit that? Could we bring them back?’,” Charlie shared, noting that the scheduling issue proved to be a “nightmare” before shooting got underway.
However, it was Hotel Reverie which presented the biggest ‘challenge’ of season 7
“The biggest change [page to screen] is [Hotel] Reverie,” Jessica shared. “Charlie is always writing the cutting back and forth from the film-inside-the-film to the control room, and finding that balance where you actually need it to be, I think that was a real process.”
Charlie agreed: “That was definitely a challenge, and hopefully, I think we cracked it.”
Of his writing process, Charlie also said: “You try to be sensible in that when you’re writing it, it obviously goes through [changes], but you have to persuade yourself when you’re writing the first draft that this is the only draft there’ll ever be, because it’s quite difficult.
“And then as you go through the process, you end up inevitably cutting things. So, you try not to film things that you know you’re going to cut. But inevitably, you trim bits here and there.”
For their dual role, Emma Corrin was inspired by a particular YouTube compilation
Rather than solely revisiting classics from the golden era of Hollywood, Emma Corrin also turned their attention to behind-the-scenes clips.
“I watched a bunch of stuff to get [inspiration],” they explained. “And obviously, it’s just a treat to watch 1940s things.”
Through their work with movement director Polly Bennett, the pair discovered a 15-minute YouTube compilation that helped Emma get their head around their character.
“She found this thing on YouTube which is a 15-minute cut of all these old Hollywood bloopers, which I didn’t know existed,” they recalled.
“And it’s extraordinary because you see all these clips from these old films, and then the actor completely snaps out of it, because they get a line wrong or they get tickled or something, and you see [their] heightened performance break. And you think ‘oh god, this is actually just acting, and everyone didn’t just walk around just speaking in a crazy voice’.
“So it was unbelievable, and that really helped me get the Clara/Dorothy bridge, a little bit.”
Emma first worked with Polly Bennett on The Crown when putting together their award-winning interpretation of Princess Diana.
They and Issa Rae were given plenty of time before filming got underway to bond
Emma said they “absolutely loved” working with the Insecure creator, revealing: “It was so much fun and it was a real gift because we had a week of rehearsal before we started shooting – which is quite rare in film, and especially in TV.
“And we did some amazing sort of improv games together. Obviously it’s always great to break any ice, and then also, it was just really cool, some of the stuff that Haolu [Wang, the episode’s director] was asking us to do.”
They continued: “I had to pretend I had only ever lived inside this box, and Issa had to find the words to persuade me that there was life outside of it. And stuff like that.
“It was really fun and we got to know each other really well, so when we started shooting, it was just hanging out, it was great.”
As for Bête Noire co-stars Siena Kelly and Rosy McEwen, they grew close quickly thanks to their most intense scene being their first day on set
“We filmed the final scene first, so I think we had to go from zero to a hundred, rolling around on the floor, crying, throwing each other down,” Rosy recalled. “And then we were like… ‘OK’.”
Oh – and yes, Siena’s final scene in Bête Noire was, indeed, inspired by Beyoncé
“Why was Beyoncé the inspiration? Who is the empress of the universe?” Siena quipped. “Really? Come on. It’s Beyoncé.”
She explained: “We tried to copy [Beyoncé’s] makeup. But the casting of the body took ages – I was in that outfit for hours and it was fun and cute for an hour, and then I had to [stretch to be able to sit down]… in a wig and a hat and heels. I was like, ’I’m not Beyoncé’.”
And if you’re wondering, the Bête Noire cast really did get to eat all that chocolate for real (and no, they didn’t get sick of it)
“The chocolate bars that they’re trying at the beginning, those are actually made by someone specifically for the show as a miso chocolate bar,” Rosy shared. “It wasn’t just a Mars bar they cut up, someone actually came in and made that. And it was delicious!”
She admitted: “I would run off and have two bits, because there was a lady making them on set!
“I would take people from the crew and be like, ‘guys do you know they’re actually making them, come, come!’”.
For Plaything, Lewis Gribben and Peter Capaldi played different iterations of the same character – but Lewis says he was given free rein to put his own spin on Cameron Walker
“The funny thing is, he studied me more than I studied him,” Lewis admitted.
He explained: “The way I looked at it was like, ‘I’m the young version of him, so he has to take from his younger self and incorporate it into his older self’, which I felt made more sense. And David Slade, the director, agreed, thankfully. And Peter kind of thought that would be more interesting for him as well.”
Lewis recalled: “He would take my inflections and put it into his voice, move like me, kind of have the same body [language]. So a lot of it was like him learning from me, which probably made it easier.
“And the way we filmed it as well, obviously Peter’s got a massive crazy schedule and is always working a lot, so we filmed pretty much most of ’94 first, so that gave me the freedom to act the way I wanted.”
Lewis’ biggest surprise about joining the Black Mirror-verse was how quick the process was
“People would think that [each episode takes] two or three months, but they’re really, really quick,” he revealed. “[Plaything] was done in, like, four weeks. So, it feels quite short. But it’s an intense shortness.
“But, like, I think what you realise is that you’re working with some really sick people, some of the best of the game.”
Rosy agreed: “It’s a very well-oiled machine. It was one of the easiest jobs I’ve ever done.
“Everyone knows what they’re doing, everyone trusts Charlie, no one’s weighing in, it’s just like ‘this is what we’re doing, we’re just going to float through the whole thing’. It was so quick and fun and painless.”
For Siena, it was how light-hearted the atmosphere was on set that proved to be a pleasant surprise
“It’s the least tense set I’ve ever been on,” she claimed.
“They use a lot of the same crew [on each episode] and creative teams come back, so loads of people have worked together. Obviously the actors are completely different every episode, but loads of the teams have worked together before, so there’s a shorthand with each other and an understanding so things just move a lot quicker.”
Siena added: “Our episode is quite fun, but the set in general was very light, very light-hearted, fun, and Charlie’s fun. He’s not a very serious, dark person.”
Emma Corrin was also surprised by a certain presence on set while they were shooting Hotel Reverie
“Charlie is very around, which is quite unusual, for a writer to be so [present],” she said.
“But that was only a good thing, because it’s always incredible to pick his brains and his thoughts. And it’s so much his vision, so it makes sense that he was there, it was lovely.”
The stars of each episode actually only find out who else is in the season at the same time as the rest of us
“It’s so secretive – we didn’t even know who the other cast members were,” Rosy admitted.
Siena agreed: “We found out when everyone else found out – and we didn’t know how many episodes there were… you know about your episode and that is it.”
The Black Mirror team already have people in mind for a potential season 8
“There are a few people who we’re huge fans of who we’ve been told are fans of the series, and if schedules could align that would be really magical,” Jessica shared, although disappointingly, that’s where she drew the line.
And Jessica has also hinted we may not have seen the last of the USS Callister
“To me, Callister is a workplace comedy,” she said. “It’s two workplace environments. And those characters, you just want to spend more and more time with. I’d watch an ongoing series…”
All seven seasons of Black Mirror are now streaming on Netflix.
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