Black Mirror to release film Bandersnatch on Netflix next week, not season 5

Fans have to wait a bit longer for series five

Netflix is releasing a feature-length Black Mirror film before the end of the year.

Earlier this month, a now-deleted tweet appeared to confirm the return of Charlie Brooker’s anthology series on 28 December with an episode titled “Bandersnatch”.

As predicted, it seems the series will indeed be returning – but not in the form of a fifth season. Instead, it will be an original film that will mark the show’s longest instalment to date, running one minute longer than season three’s “Hated in the Nation”.

Keen-eyed Netflix users have been sharing a photo of Black Mirror: Bandersnatch‘s listing on Netflix, which is listed as its own entity away from the show’s existing 19 episodes.

A search for the word “Bandersnatch“ on Netflix brings up a title card for what is presented as “a Netflix film”. (Netflix)

The description for Bandersnatch simply reads “Be right back”, which is also the title of the first episode of Black Mirror‘s second season, starring Hayley Atwell and Domhnall Gleeson. The episode heavily featured a fictional service that lets bereaved individuals stay in touch with the deceased.

Could the series return to that world? And, if so, could Atwell and Gleeson be reprising their roles? Anything is possible in Black Mirror.

The new season will reportedly feature a “choose-your-own-adventure” outing whereby fans can interactively dictate what events unfold. It’s currently unknown if Bandersnatch will be in that format.

Last year’s series featured episodes “USS Callister” and “Black Museum,” the former of which added to the show’s Emmy trophy count. Series five is expected to return to Netflix in 2019 with an episode starring Miley Cyrus.