[This story contains spoilers from Black Mirror season seven sequel “USS Callister: Into Infinity.”]
After the first “USS Callister” released with the fourth season of Black Mirror in late 2017, director Toby Haynes told creator Charlie Brooker they had just made the best pilot for a space series. Brooker was initially hesitant to discuss spinoff potential for the extended 90-minute saga (which went on to win four Emmys), but it wasn’t long before the future of “Callister” began to look bright.
“They first talked to me about doing a season of ‘Callister’ back when I was doing Andor,” Haynes tells The Hollywood Reporter of the yearslong journey to bring “Callister” back to Netflix screens. Brooker initially shared with Haynes ideas for a “Callister” series, but after the Hollywood strikes in 2023 derailed production plans, Brooker and executive producer Jessica Rhoades quite literally aligned the planets of their star-studded ensemble and tranformed their follow-up into another 90-minute feature, with Black Mirror‘s first-ever sequel “USS Callister: Into Infinity.” (Now streaming along with the rest of season seven.)
“I think we were all kind of haunted by the people we were years ago who made this Emmy Award-winning TV movie, and now we’re trying to make something that’s got to live up to that,” says Haynes. The result is a story that’s a “bigger, better, more exciting, funnier, more emotional upgrade,” which Haynes calls the middle of what he’d like to see become their “Callister” film trilogy. He says this sequel was a chance to do their Empire Strikes Back, Aliens or Terminator 2. “Making it as a single film elevates the whole piece into a movie series, which is where great sci-fi belongs, isn’t it?”
Below, in conversation with THR, the Andor and forthcoming Star Trek prequel director, who also directed season seven episode “Bête Noire,” tracks “Callister’s” epic flight from series to film sequel, marvels at his cast realigning after years away, including watching star Cristin Milioti act opposite herself, and shares the many conversations that went into that open-ended ending, which leaves this spaceship story very open to explore.
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When you and I spoke after the first “USS Callister” back in 2018, we were already talking about its spinoff potential. More recently, Charlie Brooker told me this sequel has been in the works for a very long time. When did you first start talking about this sequel in earnest?
Look, I was talking about it as soon as we finished the first one. I said to Charlie, “We’ve made the best sci-fi pilot for a show that doesn’t exist. We’ve sort of done an undercover pilot, why don’t we just go straight into a series?” And he said, “Oh, you know, people have talked to me before about spinning off episodes and I’ve never wanted to do it. I like to do fresh ideas.” But me and Louise Sutton, who produced that one, kept coming up with ideas and badgering Charlie. Charlie likes to come up with his own stuff, because he’s a genius. But I think by us badgering him, he very quickly saw the scope of what could be done and he started work on it. I think they first talked to me about doing a season of “Callister” back when I was doing Andor. That was the first time it’d sort of become real.
When was that?
The end of 2020. So yes, this was a long project! That was a great call to get. I was quite busy on Star Wars, so I said that when it becomes real to let me know. It was a long time again before the next call. There was always a chat about doing it, and then once I was done Andor, I went back to work with Charlie [to direct] “Demon 79” [Black Mirror‘s “Red Mirror” episode in season six]. That was a real pleasure to work with him again on such a fantastic script. I was really proud of that film, and we were constantly talking about the “Callister” series.
That when he started working with Jessica [Rhoades, season seven executive producer] who really put a rocket up it as well. She’s such an amazing producer who accelerated things with the writers and actors. Suddenly it was looking like it was going to be the next project, and that was seriously exciting. Then it was the actors strike [in 2023] — so it all fell apart! We were literally about to start what was going to be a “Callister” series. I think she used that time [during the strikes], knowing everyone’s limited availability, to figure out, “How do we make this happen in a way that can get everybody back?” And then it became a single film.
That’s when it got really exciting for me. One film is a sequel. It’s not a series, and it kind of elevates the whole thing into the perfect format for a sci-fi adventure. We could be making our own, I’d like to say, iconic sci-fi trilogy within the Black Mirror world. And what could be better? It’s so exciting. If we do another one! I’d like to make good on the trilogy.
This was our chance to do Empire Strikes Back or Aliens or even Terminator 2. If we were going to come back, how do we upgrade? There are so many sequels that miss the mark in sci-fi, but there are a few that really hit the mark. How do we be the ones that really justify a sequel by making it bigger, better, more exciting, funnier, more emotional, upgrade the effects. Everything was a huge amount of pressure to try to deliver something special.
The first “USS Callister” Black Mirror feature released late 2017. The sequel reunites the entire spaceship cast, except Michaela Coel (second from left), due to scheduling conflicts. Courtesy of Netflix
Let’s go back a second to what you just said: How seriously did you explore doing “Callister” as a series?
It was fully explored as a series. We were talking numbers of episodes, how many I could direct. It was fully conceived as a miniseries. Charlie had gotten into the script, I don’t know by how much, but that was the idea at one point. And it was coming out of the strikes where it became the single. But with this film, I think we’ve got something bigger and better. It was reconceived as a sequel, and I think that’s what it should be. What I was nervous about with it being a series was, would it be watered down what was a really neat mini-movie? Coming back and making it as a single film elevates the whole piece into a movie series, which is where great sci-fi belongs, isn’t it?
How much did the story change when it went from being a series to this sequel, “USS Callister: Into Infinity,” which is another 90-minute feature?
I wasn’t involved in that process; I was waiting for a draft to come in. I know Jessica was working very hard to manage a lot of ideas that Charlie wanted to do. After doing “Demon 79,” I sat in a pub with Charlie and he had pitched me his ideas for the “Callister” series, which were great. I told him I was totally on board. All of those great ideas that he had shared with me in that chat are in this film. So I don’t feel there was anything lost from the series.
I think being forced into doing it as a single film means everything in there is quality stuff. It’s all the best it can be. That’s something great about Charlie: his sense of quality control is really high. There’s never a dull joke or a line that doesn’t quite work or a piece of information that’s superfluous. He’s disciplined and I really enjoy working like that, because that means the final product is working at such a high level.
Charlie teased this sequel by saying that the first one was like Star Trek and this one is your Star Wars. Especially with your experience in these worlds (coming out of Andor and with the Star Trek prequel film on the horizon), how big did you want to go in scope?
That’s exactly how I feel between the two films. The first film is such a neat popboiler of a story, despite having this sci-fi aesthetic. This second film is very much an epic. We very much had in mind Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back: a darker, more emotional development with the whole film. It really has scope. When you watch the two side by side, the first one sets this one up beautifully. I think Cristin’s performance is absolutely fantastic the way she comes back and reinhabits that character and where Nanette is now [Captain of the USS Callister ship]. It also feels like she hasn’t aged a drop in seven years. Jimmi [Simpson] also feels like he’s completely preserved, and he’s funnier. He came in with such energy and can-do attitude. It was a thrilling reunion.
Cristin Milioti and Jimmi Simpson play two versions of themsevles in Black Mirror sequel “USS Callister: Into Infinity”: their real versions, and their digitally cloned versions inside the game. Nick Wall/Netflix
Jesse Plemons’ return was kept secret — because he died in the first one, and you have to see in the sequel how he’s brought back. Did that take any convincing to bring Jesse back to play this character, Robert Daily, and why did you not want to spoil that?
That first question is above my pay grade, but he’s a nice surprise when he comes in halfway through. He’s such a transformative actor, the fact that he’s gone through this body transformation where he’s lost a lot of weight, he also looks 10 years younger. I know that he always wanted to come back in the right way. I don’t know how much persuasion that took.
Jessica Rhoades and her ability to bring all these guys back was a humongous task and she did it fantastically. I think to get him back, we knew we would have to show a different side to Robert Daly. He couldn’t just come back and do the same thing. And where Charlie went with that, and what’s so great about his writing, is how he finds new levels of that character yet also enables us to repeat some of the tension and horror that Nanette (Cristin Milioti) went through.
The week that we filmed Cristin and Jesse’s scenes was the most incredible sequence; the whole setup of how this is somebody facing their abuser again and the way she played. She hasn’t seen him since the first one, where he had the power to take away her whole face and suffocate her just by clicking his fingers. And then the way he played someone who was so open and young and unspoiled by the disappointments and the painful side of his life. By the end of it, we see the beginnings of that monster that he becomes. His charting of that journey through those scenes was a masterclass, and the way she responded; she so brilliantly has the emotion in her eyes. It was so great working with these two actors after Jesse’s been off working with Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese, and Cristin’s been doing fantastically well and was just coming off of The Penguin. They’re seven years older with more experience and smarter at what they do, and that was a real pleasure to do that.
Jesse Plemons returns as a clone version of his maniacal Robert Daly in the sequel. Nick Wall/Netflix
How long was your shoot and when did you film this, if Cristin Milioti just finished The Penguin [which began early 2023, but didn’t finish until early 2024 due to the strikes delay]?
I don’t think she’d had much of a break between the two shoots, so she was almost exhausted but really up for it. It was a 26-day shoot, which for an action adventure of this scale was a very intense shoot, and very much so for her. She was pretty much on set every day. Especially after such a long shoot on The Penguin, it was to some extent an intermission, but she never showed it. Her energy, her wit, her emotional intelligence is a thing to behold and really underpins a lot of the scenes and a lot of the work.
We all wanted it to be the absolutely best this could be. She was very much involved in prep and making sure the scenes are really going to fly for her. We did a rehearsal period before. It was a real collaboration this time with the actors. Before they were much younger and no one knew originally what the piece was going to be. This time, our worst enemies are ourselves, which is particularly ironic for her, who’s facing her own double in the film. I think we were all kind of haunted by the people we were seven years ago who made this Emmy Award-winning TV movie, and now we’re trying to make something that’s got to live up to that. It was a real challenge.
I imagine since you filmed this so many years ago, you had to resurrect all of the sets? Was that from scratch?
Yes, and Miranda [Jones], our production designer, was absolutely fantastic. She spoke to Phil Sims, who designed the original, and was able to get the plans, which was a mission in itself. We had the original construction team for that set. But then she had to build everything else, including the planets and she did an absolutely fantastic job. I think you can see her humor coming through in the props, like seeing Cristin with that huge pink gun and giving a little bit of [Ellen] Ripley [Sigourney Weaver’s character in the Alien franchise] in her clothing.
In-game Nanette is now a sci-fi superhero as captain of a ship, similar to the way that Ripley develops between Alien and Aliens. I wanted to evoke that in our costume, and the gun was good fun doing that, as well as all the gamer stuff. The original “Callister” had that lovely ‘60s sci-fi aesthetic that we were playing with, very much Star Trek. Where does sci-fi meet computer games, and how do we evoke that through the props and the visual effects and in the action? This one had to have its own aesthetic and we didn’t want to just do a Star Wars thing. It’s not just a Star Wars–Spaceballs ripoff. This has gamer aesthetic.
Did you have a bigger budget this time?
Definitely. I’m glad I’m not actually across the budget to a big degree, other than when there’s an urgency, but it was definitely a much bigger budget. It’s a much bigger scope. There’s more visual effects, there’s more planets. There were more sets to build. It’s an upgrade, isn’t it? “Callister” upgraded!
Cristin Milioti as Captain Cole in the “Callister” sequel, leader of the spaceship in the game. Nick Wall/Netflix
And the whole cast is back except for Michaela Coel.
That’s right, and that was due to scheduling issues. She’s a big star now — they all are! It would have been wonderful to get everybody back, but you can’t be that lucky. She was poised to be in it and at the last minute, we had to work out her story. Her character gets a line in the beginning when Nanette is talking about how Shania [Coel] got fragged [a.k.a killed] and how she could still smell her blood. So we used her absence as a plot point, which added emotion and explained why the stakes were so high. It’s why they’re so traumatized. They’re all feeling on edge because they know that if they get fragged in the game, they get fragged for real. And it gave space for some of the other characters and some of the British cast who are absolutely fantastic: Milanka Brooks, Paul G. Raymond and Osy Ikhile.
There is someone who also doesn’t make it out this time: Billy Magnussen’s Karl.
Billy is such a great actor, and he’s so underrated. He can play the buffoon and the meathead, but then in that moment where he dies, it really feels real and beautiful. I just love working with that guy.
When the first “Callister” came out, it hit on #MeToo before the movement. The empowering ending of Nanette (Milioti) taking down a misogynistic asshole (Plemons’ Daly) was embraced for being so of-the-moment, and rare in Black Mirror‘s bleak universe. At the time, executive producer Annabelle Jones said it felt like the world needed some cheering up. Returning for the sequel, did you all know you had to deliver another win in the end?
Well, I actually think it is kind of a bleak Black Mirror ending. There was a lot of discussion about the ending. It was really hard to find the right tone to end it on. Surprisingly for Charlie, he wanted to leave it on a very positive tone, but it wasn’t quite landing for me and Cristin. It had to be the right balance of sweet and sour, of bittersweet. You want them to escape, but in my mind, there had to be some sort of dilemma where it’s not ideal for them when they do.
So here they’ve escaped, but where they’ve escaped to isn’t ideal [because they are now stuck in Nanette’s head]. That’s exactly what the first one does: they escape into the game and then immediately are chased by players who can kill them. They jumped out the frying pan into the fire, and we wanted to give a bit of that with this one, and then Charlie put his wonderful Black Mirror spin on it. Where they’ve ended up inside her head, that would be hell. He was really worried about leaving them in hell. And I was like, “Well, in one sense they’re still alive, and in one sense it’s hell. But I don’t think it’s a bad thing.” And then he wrote it and of course, once he wrote it, it really worked. To see Cristin play it with them inside her head was great fun. She did that so well. I think she was really excited about doing her kind of Men in Black nod, where has a spaceship in her head.
Who knows? It might be completely impossible to get these people into the room again to shoot another film, and that would be very sad. But if the planets align… It took a lot to make these planets align, and I have absolute faith in Jessica and Charlie in making the planets align one more time, and if they were to line up, we’ve got a fantastic premise to begin on. I’m praying they get it together and I see a script in a few years time, or in a year’s time. I’ll be down for it. I will always be available for “Callister.” It’s been a dream working on it again and to work with those guys would be just fantastic.
In that final scene, Nanette is working on figuring out how to fix their dilemma, but she’s not really in a rush to find a solution.
You have to talk to Cristin about that. But look, all drama is conflict, right? And to see that they want to get out of her head and she’s in no hurry to do that, that’s interesting. I think you’re dead right.
There were hidden cameos in the first one (Kirsten Dunst and Aaron Paul). What Easter eggs can you point us to this time?
In terms of quoting sci-fi movies that I love, Ellen Ripley and her look with Cristin was a really important for me. The design department loves doing Easter eggs for Charlie and I think on their space suits there are some logos from different episodes that might be spotted. Even within the game, you have to look really closely.
The crew of the “USS Callister” in the sequel. Netflix
You also directed a second episode this season with “Bête Noire,” starring Siena Kelly and Rosy McEwen. When I talked to Charlie about this season, he reiterated how last season people were calling Black Mirror the “bad tech show,” and how he wanted to reclaim the show’s narrative that it’s people who are bad in these stories. Humans are bad, not tech. The ending of “Bête Noire,” proves that point. Kelly’s character has power for all of two seconds, and look what she does. What drew you to directing that episode?
It was really nice for me to do one episode in the sci-fi arena and one closer to our real world. I don’t always just want to do the genre stuff, and that episode was a wonderful psychological horror. It was two great actors playing off each other, and it’s such a mind fuck. It was a classic Charlie mind fuck, and it’s funny as well. I always want to make sure I’ve got the funny stuff in my episodes, I can’t do super grim Black Mirror! He knows I’ll enjoy doing a gamut of emotions, and humor is a part of that. I really enjoyed the gaslighting nature of the episode and the themes it was exploring. I enjoyed how we could really fuck with people’s heads.
What can you say about what you are working on next with the Star Trek prequel?
I’m very lucky to be doing these projects. I’m working with some of the most incredible talents in the industry, and certainly in these genres. I couldn’t have dreamed of a better course for my career. I saw Star Wars when I was 6. That’s what made me want to be a filmmaker. So the idea that I get to make this stuff is absolutely mind blowing. Doing the piece of Star Wars that I got with Andor was very different to a lot of the other Star Wars that’s being produced. Doing Black Mirror was very different to any other TV at the moment. I know that with Star Trek, it’s going to feel very different and very exciting for that audience.
Any timing on when we’ll see it?
I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t. But look, like a lot of my work, it’s in the future!
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Black Mirror season seven is now streaming all episodes on Netflix. Read THR’s season seven interviews with Charlie Brooker and Jessica Rhoades, Rosy McEwen, Cristin Milioti and check out our series ranking of all the episodes.
