Cristin Milioti Shares ‘Black Mirror’ “Turned The Dial Up On The Dementedness” For Season Seven

Netflix left fans raving again with its hit series Black Mirror’s seventh season, bringing back some old characters. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, actress Cristin Milioti (The Penguin, Glimpses Of The Moon) shared some insights about returning for the sequel to “USS Callister.”

In the episode, Milioti’s Captain Cole leads the crew of the USS Callister, now trapped in the Infinity game, where they must kill opponents for their credits to live. As the clones in the game fight to survive, Cole’s human persona, Nanette, must traverse the ramifications of her old boss’s death. 

“I can’t speak for everyone, but I think people would identify with how making anything is crazy,” Milioti said on how she filmed the two archetypes of the same character via The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s a miracle that anything gets made or comes together, and you do all kind of enter this fever state. The days are so long and they’re always so crazy, and you never have enough days for what you actually want to shoot.”

The actress was asked if she went into the production of the show with the mindset that this would be a trilogy.

“No, I didn’t. I know the ending is a little ambiguous as to what could happen, but I treated it, especially for Nanette, that she’s out,” Milioti told THR. “She got out. I know this is dark and demented, but when she gets hit by that car [in the real world], that was so much fun to film. We had such an incredible stunt coordinator and stunt team, and filming that, we could watch it back each time to see if it worked properly — it was a very complicated camera move.” 

The Hollywood Reporter shared that the episode, “USS Callister: Into Infinity,” had been in the works for several years by creator and writer Charlie Brooker (Cunk On Earth, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch). Originally intended to be a spinoff trilogy, the plans changed due to the recent strikes within the industry. 

“I think he turned the dial up on the dementedness of it, of having them all trapped in her head, which I love, because that’s twisted and crazy and so weird,” Milioti said about Brooker’s dreary conclusion via The Hollywood Reporter. Originally, the episode was supposed to end on a lighter note. 

Season seven of Black Mirror is available to stream on Netflix.