'Black Mirror' Season 5 Was Delayed By 'Bandersnatch,' But It's Not All Doom & Gloom

If you're a fan of Black Mirror and all of its tech horror, or you just really love choose-your-own-adventure games with worsening degrees of options, then odds are you watched Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. You could have played one to five hours of the Netflix original, but either way, there's no denying that it's a very intense and massive story to unfold. So it's not all that surprising to hear that Black Mirror season 5 was reportedly delayed by Bandersnatch. It turns out, creating all of those twists, turns, and countless endings didn't come without a price.

In a Dec. 29 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the creator of Black Mirror, Charlie Brooker, along with executive producer Annabel Jones, gave some insight into their newest project, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. But the one piece of information that might be the most interesting to fans of the show is when Season 5 of Black Mirror will hit Netflix. The interview didn't reveal a specific date; however Jones did confirm that the making of Bandersnatch was so complex, it caused the next season to be delayed.

This might be a bit disappointing to fans, but THR also pointed out that Black Mirror's next season was still expected to be released in 2019. Brooker confirmed in March that production on Season 5 was underway, telling RadioTimes at the Radio Television Awards, “Season five, we are filming one [episode] at the moment,” he said. “We are about to start filming another one imminently. I’m writing the next one and then it gets a bit more foggy.” It seems that Bandersnatch took precedence, rightfully so, and was released before the long-awaited fifth season.

Fans desperately waiting for Black Mirror Season 5 have to admit that the series did give them quite a lot of content with Bandersnatch. Even the showrunners couldn't agree on how many endings there were. "I don't know how many endings there actually are — I think I've forgotten," Brooker told THR. And the amount of possible outcomes is representative of just how much work the creatives at Black Mirror and Netflix put into the special event. Carla Engelbrecht, the director of product innovation at Netflix, explained to THR, “In any given choice point, viewers have two options of what to do. That, by the pure mathematics of permutations, mean there are millions of paths to take."

Season 5 of Black Mirror may be delayed, but it is coming. And when it does, don't expect any interactive storylines. In an interview with The New York Times, Brooker said that none of the new episodes will be choose-your-own-adventure, adding that any creators thinking of trying one should, "Run away." He also teased a lighter season of Black Mirror. "We’re doing more optimistic episodes and stories, rather than just dystopian and negative ones,” Brooker told The New York Times. “We want to keep the show interesting for us.” While not every episode in the past has been so pessimistic, it's nice to know that fans have some good endings to look forward to.

And, in the meantime, fans can continue to play Bandersnatch, and hopefully learn new things and manifest new endings along the way.