USS Callister: Into Infinity
| "USS Callister: Into Infinity" | |
|---|---|
| Black Mirror episode | |
 Promotional poster | |
| Episode no. | Series 7 Episode 6 |
| Directed by | Toby Haynes |
| Written by |
|
| Original air date | 10 April 2025 |
| Running time | 90 minutes |
| Guest appearances | |
| |
"USS Callister: Into Infinity" is the sixth and final episode in the seventh season of the British science fiction anthology television series Black Mirror and also the sequel to the fourth season episode "USS Callister". Several of the cast of USS Callister return to reprise their roles, including Cristin Milioti, Jimmi Simpson, Billy Magnussen, Milanka Brooks, Osy Ikhile, and Paul G. Raymond while Jesse Plemons portrays a digital clone version of Robert Daly. Written by series creator and showrunner Charlie Brooker, Bisha K. Ali, William Bridges and Bekka Bowling, and directed by Toby Haynes, it premiered on Netflix on 10 April 2025, with the rest of series seven.[1] The episode received positive reviews.
Plot
[edit]It's been some time since the events of "USS Callister". The digitally cloned avatars of Callister Inc.'s employees who make up the crew of the USS Callister have been surviving in Callister Inc.'s Infinity, an immersive virtual reality-based massively multiplayer online game, and to eke out their survival among the game's pay-to-play nature, they take the role of space pirates to rob other players. Because they lack a gamer tag, they are also easy targets for players to try to attack. They realise that, to survive, they need to hack the Infinity servers to carve out a virtual space of their own, but this requires getting back Lt. Walton – a digital clone of Callister's CEO, James Walton – and then using the information Walton knows in order to travel into the "Heart of Infinity" and create this space.
A reporter travels to Callister Inc. to ask Walton about these rogue players in Infinity, as well as illegal DNA cloning equipment that had been used by Callister Inc.'s late CTO, Robert Daly. Nanette Cole, a programmer for the game, overhears this and offers to help James track down these rogue players. They enter the game and track down James' clone Walton who had previously died but had respawned due to trace amounts of James' DNA remaining in Infinity. Simultaneously, Captain Nan, Nanette's digital clone and in command of the USS Callister, also discovers Walton's whereabouts. The two groups meet up, find Walton, and return to the USS Callister. While meeting the rest of the crew, James attempts to murder them with a gun, killing Karl's clone Valdek. Nanette kicks him out of the game and then disconnects herself to lambast him as they leave the office. She is suddenly hit by a car, leaving her seemingly brain-dead.
Meanwhile, Walton helps guide the USS Callister to the Heart, which appears as a space station, and Nan transports into it. Inside, she discovers it to be a digital recreation of Robert's garage where he and James had constructed the technology behind their original game, including a digital clone of Robert himself. As Robert was the genius behind the game's universe, the two acquired an illegal digital cloning device to place a copy of Robert into the game, allowing the clone to update and expand Infinity indefinitely. The clone of Robert is willing to help Nan and the crew, but he reveals that Nanette is currently brain-dead. He offers a choice via separate floppy disks: he can either merge Nan's consciousness with Nanette's to help revive her or he can create a private server for the crew. After Nan chooses the latter, Robert says he can do both by copying and pasting Nan. Nan realizes that this would leave a copy of herself to be Robert's companion and demands that he cut and paste instead. Infuriated that Nan plans on leaving him to be alone again, which causes him to attack her.
Meanwhile, James enters the game and poses as Walton to gain access to the Callister's bridge and, while the crew is distracted, sends out an invite to all the players that the Callister crew had robbed. James exits the game and opts to spectate from the real world. The ship struggles to defend itself from scores of angry players.
Nan, struggling with Robert's control over her body and the game's world, manages to kill him with a prop knife. Robert's death engages a dead man's switch that starts to destroy the Heart. Nan frantically searches for the floppy to perform the cut and paste command and enacts it just as the Callister is about to be hit by missiles. Nan finds herself in control of Nanette's body, also co-inhabited by the Callister crew who can experience the real world through her senses and communicate with her via cell phone. Meanwhile, James finds that the whole of Infinity has been wiped from the server after calling the original Kabir about the associated error, much to his frustration.
Three months later, James is arrested on numerous charges, including fraud and "digital human rights abuse". After seeing the news where she can close her eyes when in the bathroom, Nan and the crew inside her relax to watch the latest episode of The Real Housewives of Atlanta.
Production
[edit]The episode is a sequel to the Black Mirror episode "USS Callister".[2] Director Toby Haynes returned to direct the episode.[3] Originally, Brooker and Haynes planned to develop the sequel to "USS Callister" as a series, which was about to enter development in 2023 when the plans were derailed by the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. The ideas for the series were then reworked into a single television film.[4]
While most of the returning cast from USS Callister was announced prior to the release of the episode, Brooker kept Jesse Plemons's return as a clone of Robert Daly a secret.[5] Michaela Coel, another actor from USS Callister, had schedule conflicts and did not return for this episode. Her Callister character was reported as being killed during an earlier mission.[6]
Reception
[edit]The episode received mostly positive reviews.[7] Alec Bojalad of Den of Geek rated the episode 4.5 out of 5 stars.[7]
References
[edit]- ^ Abele, Robert (10 April 2025). "How 'Black Mirror's' 'USS Callister' sequel became its 'most ambitious' episode yet". LA Times. Retrieved 10 April 2025.
- ^ Hatchett, Keisha (10 April 2025). "Black Mirror: 'USS Callister: Into Infinity' Twist Ending Explained". Tudum. Retrieved 10 April 2025.
- ^ Seitz, Lorie (10 April 2025). "'Black Mirror' Creator, Stars Unpack 'USS Callister: Into Infinity' Ending and if There'll Be Another Sequel". The Wrap. Retrieved 10 April 2025.
- ^ Strause, Jackie (14 April 2025). "'Black Mirror' Sequel "USS Callister: Into Infinity" Was Initially a Series. Now It May Be a Trilogy". Hollywood Reporter.
- ^ Griffin, Loiuse (10 April 2025). "Black Mirror's USS Callister sequel features shock return – Charlie Brooker explains new approach to character". Radio Times. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
- ^ Nolfi, Joey (10 April 2025). "Why Michaela Coel didn't return for Black Mirror's 'USS Callister' sequel 'Into Infinity' – and what happened to her character". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
- ^ a b Bojalad, Alec (10 April 2025). "Black Mirror Season 7 Episode 6 Review – USS Callister: Into Infinity". Den of Geek. Retrieved 10 April 2025.
