‘Black Mirror’ Director Talks ‘San Junipero’ Sequel, Season 4

Black Mirror had hits and misses in its double-size transition to Netflix for Season 3, but few stood out so much as the ‘80s-tinged, and oddly-optimistic “San Junipero.” Black Mirror isn’t the type for direct sequels, however connected its stories might be, but the episode’s director weighs in on another potential visit to “San Junipero.”

You’re warned of full spoilers for Black Mirror Season 3 from here on out, but suffice to say, “San Junipero” broke some new ground for the ominous technology parable, and not just in spotlighting an interracial same-sex couple (played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Mackenzie Davis). The extra-long outing also notably featured a rare happy ending for the series, allowing Kelly and Yorkie to literally ride off into their virtual reality sunset, scored by Belinda Carlisle’s “Heaven Is a Place on Earth.”

That said, it’s exactly that tone of ending that makes director Owen Harris nervous about returning to that particular story, telling The Hollywood Reporter:

[A sequel would] be nice wouldn’t it? It’d be fun to do a San Junipero sequel. But you have to remember that if there is a sequel, Charlie Brooker will be writing it. He’ll go all Black Mirror on it and he might not want to do two happy endings!

Then again, there’s always the possibility that a return to “San Junipero” could shy away from Yorkie and Kelly altogether, and instead explore some of the darker aspects of that particular reality:

But whether we make one, I don’t know. I would love to. If you think about it, once you buy into San Junipero it’s this big world and we got a little taste of it when she goes off into the Quagmire, where she tries to find Kelly and bumps into Wes, and that’s very dark place. That was a sort of splinter of Black Mirror. So there is always a dark side lurking. There’s probably lots of ground you could cover by that or a parallel San Junipero, wherever that might be.

Harris also clarified that he won’t return for Season 4 over schedule conflicts (thus far, only Jodie Foster has been confirmed to direct), but with six more episodes on the way, is it worth returning to show either side of “San Junipero” again? Will the episode go down as one of the series’ only optimistic endings?