Black Mirror’s USS Callister Sequel Compared to Star Wars: Return of the Jedi

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Black Mirror’s USS Callister Sequel Compared to Star Wars: Return of the Jedi

Black Mirror will expand the story of the USS Callister in its upcoming seventh season. In the show’s first follow-up, the Black Mirror creative team compared the USS Callister sequel to Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

How is Black Mirror’s USS Callister sequel like Return of the Jedi?

When USS Callister aired in the show’s fourth season, the episode channeled another famous sci-fi series for inspiration. This time around, the USS Callister sequel will feel more like an action-adventure movie.

“We definitely leant into the dated feel of Star Trek for the first one; this one’s more action movie, more of a modern approach,” director Toby Haynes told SFX Magazine.

Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker acknowledged the episode’s Star Trek roots and explained how the sequel channels a famous Star Wars sequel.

“Obviously the first one was riffing on Star Trek, and this one is slightly riffing on Star Wars,” Brooker said. “We kept saying, ‘What’s unique to our premise?’ It’s weird because you sort of forget it’s a game. To them, it’s real, obviously. So it plays out on that sort of scale. It feels a bit Return of the Jedi or something along those lines, because it has to.”

USS Callister was the first episode of Black Mirror Season 4, which premiered in December 2017. Jesse Plemons starred as Robert Daly, an overlooked programmer who works for Callister Inc., the company behind the popular game Infinity. Frustrated with how his co-workers treat him, Robert creates a Star Trek-esque video game with clones of his coworkers. In the game, Robert is the captain and dictator of the USS Callister. When Nanette Cole (Cristin Milioti) arrives in the game, she works with the crew to stop Robert’s reign of terror.

Milioti, Jimmi Simpson, and Billy Magnussen return for the sequel. Specific plot details have been kept under wraps.

Black Mirror Season 7 streams on Netflix on April 10.