Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker fears that fans of the series won’t want a sixth season after dealing with a real-life episode thanks to COVID-19.
If you were hoping for a sixth season of Black Mirror, you might be waiting with the same fans who are still waiting on the third season of The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Unlike other shows that get axed for being great but having no audience, Black Mirror has an audience. It’s extremely popular and has replaced the need for a modern Twilight Zone series to exist in pop culture anymore.
Yet, the man who made it, Charlie Brooker, no longer feels the show will have an audience due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In an incredibly insightful take, Brooker fears that fans will have grown tired of a miserable story where the hero suffers, seeing how many are, have, and will continue to suffer due to the coronavirus and the long-standing effects on not just the psyche but on society as a whole.
Brooker told Radio Times, “At the moment, I don’t know what stomach there would be for stories about societies falling apart, so I’m not working away on one of those,” Brooker explained. “I’m sort of keen to revisit my comic skill set, so I’ve been writing scripts aimed at making myself laugh.”
It’s always awful when a beloved series gets canceled because funding issues, or due to low ratings but to lose the heart and soul of a series because the creator loses his lust for it might just be one of the worst. There’s no telling how Brooker will feel in a few month’s time or how the audience as a whole will respond. Fanbases stick by shows no matter what a lot of times.
Especially highly successful shows like Black Mirror. There might still be a demand for new episodes, just maybe not right now. In a year’s time, however? No one can say for sure.