Creator Charlie Brooker and his partner, executive producer Annabel Jones, recently spoke about what's to come in the world of 'Black Mirror' season 5.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Brooker and Jones discussed the impact making the interactive movie 'Bandersnatch' had on 'Black Mirror' season 5.
Launching on Netflix December 28th last year, 'Bandersnatch' allowed viewers to take control of the choices Fionn Whitehead's character Stefan made in the movie. At first, you're given the easy task of choosing which breakfast cereal to eat; but rather quickly you are forced to make choices that could have a huge impact on the story.
With many different endings being possible, viewers have been re-watching 'Bandersnatch' in the hopes of finding never-before-seen scenes. It'll be interesting to see the viewing figures for the movie, if Netflix ever oblige.
Now, Brooker has said that due to the complexity of getting 'Bandersnatch' just right, 'Black Mirror' season 5 has had to be pushed back.
Speaking on the scope of the interactive film, Brooker said "We knew going into it that it would be difficult and challenging and more complicated than a normal film that we would do. Even then, we underestimated. As the story expanded, I like to say that the story got longer and it got wider. So the whole thing started expanding a bit like an inflatable life raft in a small room."
Brooker and Jones said that they were learning as they went, essentially. They, and Netflix, helped develop the new interactive technology, which didn't arrive until months into the writing process. Brooker explained, "There was quite a bit of trial and error of learning what would and wouldn’t work. Because you have to learn a whole new way of editing. It’s not like editing a standard film where you can often rearrange scenes or cut things.
"In some respects you have more freedom because you have so many different stories that you can be telling. But then you are restricted in new ways. There’s a whole new language you have to learn and on top of that, you have to write and film so much more."
When asked about the casting for 'Black Mirror' season 5, which Miley Cyrus has revealed she is a part of, the pair didn't reveal very much. Jones played very coy, and quipped, "Did you not get to that ending?" referring to one of the multiple endings to 'Bandersnatch.'
For the next 'Black Mirror' follow-up, it looks like we have a little bit longer to wait. However, Netflix have assured users that season 5 will arrive in 2019 at some point in the future.
Possibly one of the most exciting things we can take from this, is that now that Netflix have an interactive software they can utilise, we're bound to see more interactive movies and TV shows headed our way in the future.
To read the full interview, head over to The Hollywood Reporter.
