The next Black Mirror season brings Paul Giamatti, Awkwafina, Peter Capaldi, and a sequel to USS Callister

Actor Paul Giamatti speaks onstage during a live taping of the podcast "CHINWAG" at Town Hall Seattle on May 17, 2024 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Mat Hayward/Getty Images for ABA) — (Image credit: Mat Hayward via Getty Images)

As part of its Geeked Week festivities, Netflix is giving us our earliest glimpses at what to expect from Black Mirror Season 7 with a look at its next lead cast. Coming in 2025, the dystopian scifi anthology will return with some huge names headlining its next set of episodes, like Crazy Rich Asians's Awkwafina, Doctor Who's Peter Capaldi, and Paul Giamatti from all the things that've given us the privilege of getting to watch Paul Giamatti.

Netflix also confirmed that we'll be getting a follow-up to a fan favorite episode from Season 6: USS Callister, which featured a deeply-unsettling performance from Jesse Plemons as a disgruntled game dev employee who acted through his psychosexual frustrations by commanding his simulated coworkers as the captain of an elaborate Star Trek VR roleplay. Netflix hasn't given any details on what the sequel episode will entail, but I'm sure it'll be unpleasant. But, you know, in a good way. Can't wait!

Revealed via a cryptic teaser that you can watch on Netflix's Tudum site—itself a callback to Black Mirror's Bandersnatch—the lead cast includes more notable names like Rashida Jones from The Office and Parks and Rec, Tracee Ellis Ross from Black-ish, The IT Crowd's Chris O'Dowd, and more. Here's the full lead cast list:

Awkwafina (Crazy Rich Asians, Jackpot)
Milanka Brooks (Black Mirror, The Windsors)
Peter Capaldi (Doctor Who, Criminal Record)
Emma Corrin (The Crown, Deadpool & Wolverine)
Patsy Ferran (Jamestown, Firebrand)
Paul Giamatti (Billions, The Holdovers)
Lewis Gribben (Blade Runner 2099, Somewhere Boy)
Osy Ikhile (In the Heart of the Sea, Citadel)
Rashida Jones (The Office, Parks and Rec)
Siena Kelly (Adult Material, Domino Day)
Billy Magnussen (Into the Woods, Road House)
Rosy McEwen (The Alienist, Blue Jean)
Cristin Milioti (How I Met Your Mother, The Penguin)
Chris O’Dowd (The IT Crowd, Bridesmaids)
Issa Rae (Barbie, Insecure)
Paul G. Raymond (Wonka, Horrible Histories)
Tracee Ellis Ross (Black-ish, Girlfriends)
Jimmi Simpson (Westworld, House of Cards)
Harriet Walter (Silo, Succession)

As for what the other episodes might feature, we can only guess. Who knows—maybe we'll see an echo of showrunner Charlie Brooker's prediction that Balatro on mobile will destroy global productivity.

Lincoln has been writing about games for 12 years—unless you include the essays about procedural storytelling in Dwarf Fortress he convinced his college professors to accept. Leveraging the brainworms from a youth spent in World of Warcraft to write for sites like Waypoint, Polygon, and Fanbyte, Lincoln spent three years freelancing for PC Gamer before joining on as a full-time News Writer in 2024, bringing an expertise in Caves of Qud bird diplomacy, getting sons killed in Crusader Kings, and hitting dinosaurs with hammers in Monster Hunter.