Netflix is reportedly releasing a feature-length Black Mirror film as the latest installment to the sci-fi anthology series.
According to a glitch in technology first noticed by keen-eyed Reddit user PhoOhThree, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch is coming to a screen close to you sometime in the near future. While browsing the Netflix library, PhoOhThree spotted the title Black Mirror: Bandersnatch listing on Netflix, separate from its own entity away from the show’s existing 19 episodes. The title was also labeled “A Netflix Film” and boasted the synopsis “Be right back,” which happens to be the title of the first episode of Black Mirror‘s second season.
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While seemingly confirmed by the listing, Netflix has not yet confirmed the reports via an official announcement.
Bandersnatch was first teased in a since-deleted tweet by the official Netflix account earlier this month, which listed the premiere date for the title as Friday, Dec. 28. At the time, it was believed that Bandersnatch was nothing more than an episode of the series’ fifth season.
Although details regarding the project are being kept mum, many fans believed the title seemed to be a major clue that referenced a 1984 computer game about a “group of computer nerds locked away together to try and create the ultimate Commodore 64 and 48k Spectrum game.” The game had previously been referenced in Season 3 episode “Playtest,” when it was briefly shown in tiny text on the front cover of a gaming magazine.
WHHAAATTTT, Bandersnatch was referenced all the way back in Season 3 on the front cover of the gaming magazine in Playtest 😮 pic.twitter.com/LabQe7dX6v
— Ebejeevezner Scrooge ⛄🎄🎅🎁❄️ (@jeeveswilliams) November 26, 2018
The title also bears resemblance to a creature in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass. In the novel, a Bandersnatch is “described as having a long neck, snapping jaws, and also being ferocious & extraordinarily fast.”
the #blackmirror ep filming in croydon is called ‘bandersnatch’ a bandersnatch was created by lewis carroll for the alice in wonderland universe and is described as having a long neck, snapping jaws, and also being ferocious & extraordinarily fast idk about you but i’m excited!!!
— 𝖋𝖆𝖙𝖆𝖑 𝖊𝖗𝖗𝖔𝖗 (@_bexorcist) April 25, 2018
At this time, Netflix has not confirmed an official premiere date for Black Mirror Season 5, though the supposed leaked date of Dec. 28 will coincide with previous season premiere dates, which have all premiered during the last Friday of December.
Bandersnatch is the first Black Mirror project to be labeled a film, though a number of episodes have boasted similar runtimes to a feature, including Season 3’s “Hated in the Nation,” which clocked in at 89 minutes.
Although fans may be gifted a late Christmas present on Dec. 28 in the form of a new batch of Black Mirror episodes and a possible film, they can currently catch up on Seasons 1-4 of the series, which are currently available for streaming on Netflix.