Netflix users have been busy exploring all the different branches of Black Mirror‘s latest – and uniquely interactive – episode “Bandersnatch” for the past couple of days. With its many tangents and alternative endings, it’s clearly a hugely impressive piece of entertainment that must be the product of countless hours of hard work to put it all together, either on a story or technical level.
In fact, it turns out that “Bandersnatch” was so difficult to make that season 5 of the sci-fi anthology show has now been delayed. The Hollywood Reporter spoke with the producers of the episode and in their article, Annabel Jones reveals that the fifth season won’t be arriving on the streaming service anytime soon.
There was no time frame given by Jones, so we’re not sure how much longer we’ll have to wait for a new batch of episodes that’ll no doubt leave us feeling queasy about the state of modern society. We’d been expecting season 5 to drop around new year though, as per seasons 3 and 4, but the shock release of “Bandersnatch” filled that slot instead.
Netflix has confirmed that we won’t have to wait another 12 months for the season, however, and has stated that the new run will still arrive at some point in 2019. While speaking to The New York Times, creator Charlie Brooker also revealed that season 5 may have more uplifting episodes in the mix.
“We’re doing more optimistic episodes and stories, rather than just dystopian and negative ones,” Brooker explained. “We want to keep the show interesting for us.”
“Bandersnatch” has been a hit with viewers so far and we imagine hardcore fans of the show will be playing it over and over to try and get all the different variations and spot all the hidden easter eggs. With that in mind, we can probably go without Black Mirror season 5 for a few more months, as there’s certainly enough to tide us over.