BLACK MIRROR, 7.6 – ‘USS Callister: Into Infinity’

“Plaything” brought back Will Poulter’s character from 2018’s choose-your-own-adventure special “Bandersnatch,” but Season 7’s finale gifts fans with the first true sequel to a revered Black Mirror story, “USS Callister”. That feature-length fourth season instalment from 2017 concerned a Star Trek-style multiplayer online game, where the crew of the titular spaceship were enslaved sentient digital clones of real people from the outside world.

It was a brilliantly produced and amusing sci-fi adventure, with a game company’s workers forced to cosplay an old sci-fi show by their incel boss Robert Daly (Jesse Plemons). Indeed, it won four Primetime Emmy Awards, including ones for ‘Outstanding Television Movie’ and ‘Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special’. But in returning to the scene of a creative high point for Black Mirror, can the follow-up, “USS Callister: Into Infinity”, be anything but a disappointment in comparison?

Thankfully, this belated sequel finds intriguing and amusing new aspects of the same basic concept to explore. “USS Callister” was close to becoming a spin-off TV series in 2023 ( at the behest of its director Toby Haynes and producer Louise Sutton, who kept pestering Brooker to make it), before the SAG-AFTRA strike ended any chance of that happening. I’m sure many brainstormed ideas for that unmade series found their way into this 2025 follow-up, which thus benefits from having more than enough material to fill a 90-minute runtime. (Something that couldn’t be said of “Hotel Reverie” earlier this season.)

It’s been months since the seemingly happy ending of “USS Callister”, where the avatar crew escaped their situation with megalomaniac captain Bob, only to find themselves cruising through a constantly expanding Infinity universe filled with millions of online players. To survive, they must rob human players of their micro-transaction credits, but the rogue crew’s lack of game tags draws the ire of a disgruntled player base, who suspect foul play and go out of their way to hunt them down for revenge… unaware that the Callister’s crew will die for real inside this virtual realm.

Meanwhile, IRL, Infinity’s CEO James Walton (Jimmi Simpson) must deal with a reporter who’s realised his deceased business partner Bob Daly owned an illegal digital cloning device and might have inserted clones of living people into their best-selling video game. Inside said game, the USS Callister’s new captain, “Nan” Cole (Cristin Millioti), is on a quest to find a safe virtual sanctuary with the help of Walton’s digital copy “Walt” (who respawned after his apparent demise last time), aided by loyal crew mates Nate (Osy Ikhile), Kabir (Paul G. Raymond), Elena (Milanka Brooks), and Karl (Billy Magnussen). Simultaneously, Nan’s real-world counterpart, Nanette, is tasked by James Walton to locate Bob’s illegal clones before the reporter finds evidence of this brewing scandal and the company is ruined.

It sounds complex even when you boil it down, but despite a bewildering eight-year gap between episodes, it’s easy to catch up and remember where things stood. However, watching the “USS Callister” recap at the start of this episode is advised! The wonderful balancing act of both these tales is how they embrace typical Black Mirror “big ideas” about the frightening implications of theoretical technology (abusing the clones of real people after they’re injected, Tron-like, into a video game), but also grasp the inherent fun and goofiness of what this idea represents for geeks. Many people would love to be inside a Star Trek simulation forever!

“Into Infinity” is less of a retro Star Trek homage than its predecessor, but blending aspects of The Matrix (1999) and Galaxy Quest (1999), through the lens of modern gaming culture, is irresistible if you’re a fan of any of those movies or play video games. It’s no wonder Charlie Brooker had his arm twisted over turning “USS Callister” into a separate series, and a slight disappointment that didn’t happen. But at least a season’s worth of ideas, squashed into another feature-length adventure, ensures there’s no time to be bored as the pacing is so nimble.

Cristin Millioti, who impressed as a villain in HBO’s The Penguin miniseries, reprises her roles as Nan/Nannette and makes for a strong and likeable lead. It’s great that both versions of her character are decent people, not fundamentally changed by their divergent experiences, or at odds with each other over how to fix things, and Millioti makes for a sharp and engaging screen presence.

But Jimmi Simpson walks away with “Into Infinity”, reprising his roles as Walton/Walt. He’s deliciously narcissistic and despicable as CEO Walton, wilfully ignorant of how his own money-spinning game even works, and only motivated by a desire to maintain his privileged lifestyle as an evil Tim Cook analog. Simpson is a joy to watch in both roles, even if his portrayal as the flesh-and-blood Walton is more heightened than everyone else around him. I also enjoyed his more benign digital clone, Walt, whom we rediscover living inside an alien cave, looking like the dishevelled Tom Hanks in Castaway (2000), only with his version of “Wilson” being a small rock with a suspicious hole on its back. Ahem.

Some people may roll their eyes at Black Mirror producing a sequel, as anthology shows thrive on giving us new characters, fresh ideas, different locations, and unique experiences every week. That’s what makes them so creatively interesting to make and watch. However, this series has produced several stories that could have formed the basis of entire movies or TV shows, like the social media dystopia of “Nosedive”.

Apple TV’s sci-fi drama Severance is a great example of a hard sci-fi conceit that would have made an excellent Black Mirror story, but imagine all the hours of fun we’d have been denied if Brooker had instead told one hour-long story about a literal work/life balance? And his sensibility isn’t as quirky. “USS Callister” certainly isn’t the best concept Brooker’s dreamed up, but as it’s based on a sci-fi formula TV is already comfortable making it made sense to return to the well.

“Into Infinity” risked lazily giving viewers more of the same, so I was pleased to see the story branch out further and go deeper. We see the origin of the Infinity MMORPG in a flashback set 12 years ago, the truth of what’s generating the game’s expanding universe leans into a recurring Black Mirror concern (enslaved digital consciousness), and the real and digital characters interact in person this time. Ultimately, things aren’t resolved as neatly as “USS Callister” at least appeared to be, with the door left open for a third and likely final story to end a trilogy. And I’m excited to see where they take things, given where we end up. I hope it doesn’t take another eight years to happen.

UK | 2025 | 90 MINUTES | 16:9 HD | COLOUR | ENGLISH

Cast & Crew

writers: Charlie Brooker, Bisha K. Ali, William Bridges & Bekka Bowling.
director: Toby Haynes.
starring: Cristin Millioti, Jimmi Simpson, Billy Magnussen, Osy Ikhile, Milanka Brooks, Paul G. Raymond, Jesse Plemons, Gwion Glyn, Helder Fernandes, Ebenezer Gyau, Bilal Hasna, Iolanthe & Rita Estevanovich.