Once upon a time, Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror wasn’t just a sci-fi drama; it was eerily prophetic. So much so, in fact, that some of its very darkest episodes have come true over the years. It was a series which expertly blended near-future tech with deeply unsettling social commentary (and just a dash of dark humour) to create something that didn’t so much as linger in our minds, but primed them with nightmare manure – ready to sprout the show’s seeds into new untold horrors whenever we closed our eyes.

Still, much like Pandora’s fateful box, there was hope to be found amidst the terror. “It’s just a TV show,” we’d reassure ourselves in cheerily brittle voices, vowing to veer clear of memory implants and robotic clones of our deceased loved ones in the same breath. And yet…

Well, and yet, nowadays, reality often outpaces fiction. Amazon’s Alexa digital assistant can mimic the voice of anyone it hears from less than a minute of provided audio, dead or alive. Abba have returned to the stage as digital avatars. Ghost Robotics and arms manufacturer Sword International have designed a robot dog armed with a 6.5 mm Creedmoor sniper rifle that’s capable of precisely hitting targets from 3,940 feet away. Donald Trump has managed to secure a second US presidency.

AI-written novels are here (just ask ChatGPT). Deepfake technology is creating political chaos.

Social media algorithms are manipulating our emotions in ways even Nosedive (season three, episode one) didn’t predict. And the internet doesn’t just allow bullies to follow children home, it also grants misogynists like Andrew Tate access to impressionable young people when they should be safe in their own bedrooms.

Watch the trailer for Black Mirror season seven below:

You get the picture. Whether it’s pandemics, political chaos, deepfakes, AI influencers or the collapse of truth itself, it’s left many wondering: can Black Mirror’s seventh season ever shock us again? After all, early episodes like White Bear and Shut Up And Dance hit like gut punches because they really did feel like worst-case scenarios; nowadays, we’re desensitised cynics who can’t stop, won’t stop doomscrolling as the 24/7 news cycle continues to bring a new existential crisis each week.

Of course, the world’s extraordinary technological advancements aren’t the only thing that’s changed since the very first season tentatively tiptoed out into the world in 2011. Back then, it stood alone as the ultimate cautionary tale of our tech-fuelled doom. In 2025, however, dystopia has gone mainstream, filling our screens with bleak visions that feel uncomfortably familiar.

Channel 4’s adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale, for example, has given us an all-too-plausible totalitarian nightmare. The Last Of Us has transformed survival horror into prestige television. Severance has explored corporate horror in ways that Black Mirror might have once pioneered. Even dramas grounded in realism, such as Netflix’s Adolescence, have delved deep into the dark impact of technology and its links to the ongoing epidemic of violence against women and girls. 

What once felt like Black Mirror’s exclusive domain – holding up a dark reflection of our near future – has become an entire genre. Where Brooker once led the charge, others have followed, refining and expanding on his themes. Does Black Mirror still have space in a world where dystopian fiction is mainstream? In this crowded space, does it still feel like appointment TV or is it just another voice in the chorus of dystopian despair?

Personally, I think Brooker’s razor-sharp perspective of the world still has a place, but it has to move beyond its eponymous title. It can’t just reflect reality anymore; it needs to evolve. If the show can innovate – whether through storytelling, structure, or shifting perspectives – it has the potential to remain groundbreaking. How? Perhaps season seven should shift from bleak inevitability to resistance. Maybe Brooker should double down on what he does best, blending satire and absurdity with dystopian horror (hey, it worked for Don’t Look Up and The Boys). Or maybe it’s time for Black Mirror to stop being a cautionary tale and embrace speculative hopepunk.

Then again, maybe it doesn’t need to compete with reality at all – just show us how we’re reacting to it. Or, god help us, perhaps Brooker has dreamed up new horrors for us to sink our teeth into (and for real-world scientists to take inspiration from, apparently).

But if Brooker wants to keep shocking us in 2025, he can’t just hold up a mirror to the darkness we know; he needs to show us what happens when we fight back. 

Still, with six unnerving new episodes, an impossibly starry cast (Rashida Jones! Tracee Ellis Ross! Peter Capaldi! Emma Corrin! Issa Rae! Awkwafina!), and the much anticipated sequel to USS Callister, aka the best Black Mirror episode of all time, in the mix, I suspect we’re in for a genuinely exceptional time regardless. Roll on season seven.

Black Mirror: Season 7 drops Thursday 10 April on Netflix.

Images: Netflix