Why Black Mirror avoided casting actors at the start of the seasons

The Netflix era of “Black Mirror” constantly makes the headlines of its star cast. The biggest camée of celebrities of an episode was probably the role of Miley Cyrus semi-meta in season 5, but perhaps the most surprising celebrities to present themselves were the best known to be funny. Season 7 presented Rashida Jones of the reputation of “Parks and Recreation”, Chris O’Dowd of “The It Crowd”, Cristin Milioti of “How I Met Your Mother”, Awkwafina of “Nora from Queens”, Issa Rae of “Insecure”, and so on. A spectacle known to be dark and serious is now regularly led by actors known for their SitCom.

It is a big change compared to the first seasons Channel 4 of “Black Mirror”, where the main actors were always better known for their previous dramatic roles. Part of this change is the natural result of “Black Mirror” becoming a successful show with almost unlimited casting options, but part of it is simply due to the creators of the show that are relaxed.

In the behind the scenes book “Inside Black Mirror”, published in 2018, executive producer Annabel Jones spoke of the tone that the show tried to capture for the first episode of the series, “The National Anthem”. As she explained:

“In the casting and the conception of production, it had to be as real as possible. So we had the chance to have Rory Kinnear as Prime Minister Michael Callow. I am very anti-birthday of any comedy actor in comedy Black mirror. At the very beginning, this approach was crucial, because we needed this so as not to feel like a comedy. The story of Charlie and the perception of him in the United Kingdom were as a comedy writer, so that could have made himself too far in this way. “”

It is logical that this was what was concerned about the show in its first season. Before “Black Mirror”, the showrunner Charlie Brooker was best known for writing comedy series like “Newswipe” or “Nathan Barley”. When the pilot “Black Mirror” presented the Prime Minister forced to have sex with a pig in order to save a member of the royal family, the first assumption that most of the British public could have been that it should be funny.

Admittedly, “The National Anthem” is always quite funny (especially when you write the plot), but for most viewers, the main feeling they get the episode is fear and despair. Part of this is due to the way in which each actor involved is dead, and part of this is due to the restraint of restraint that Brooker in his script. The longtime comedy writer had to delete each funny instinct from his body to remove the episode. As Brooker explained:

“There were probably more jokes in the original script. In a scene, the Rodlessless porn star has a conversation with the Prime Minister, but his strange comic tone was misplaced. At that time, the milk had already curled and the tone had already made disturbing and heavy advice.

But despite the apparent reluctance of Jones and Brooker to hire comic actors during these first seasons, actors with comedy on their CVs began to appear more and more as “Black Mirror” continued. As Awkwafina appeared in a major role in season 7, the constant presence of comic actors had become the new standard.

What changed the spirit of showrunners on hiring comic actors? It seems that it was the fact that, since the show exploded in popularity after Netflix bought the rights, Charlie Brooker no longer has the reputation of comedy. After 2016, Brooker was mainly known as a dark and twisted science fiction artist, to the point where many new viewers are surprised to discover that he used to write a simple comedy. Nowadays, Brooker does not have to prove that he can do hard-hitting science fiction drama. He can relax a little and stop resisting the desire to throw more jokes, lighter endings.

In a few interviews over the years, Brooker has addressed the growing comic advantage of the show by noting that it was a necessary change in pace. The “Black Mirror” team had to break up with the constant cynicism of the previous seasons, not only because they had a new international audience, but because at some point, the fans were tired of leaving each episode with a pit in the stomach.

“I knew we are now going to a global platform, so we have to make these stories a little more international,” said Brooker in a 2020 panel (via The Independent). “And I wanted to mix a little, as if not to continue to make dark-a-thons.”