Just when you thought that there was already too much good TV to choose from this fall, we're here to remind you that Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror is set to return to Netflix for its third season later this month. The season's first trailer offers up looks at Bryce Dallas HowardAlice Eve, Gugu Mbatha-RawMackenzie Davis and more in the anthology series' dark and deeply disturbing return.

Be sure to check out our own Adam Chitwood's review of the season, which he says still has its dark moments but comes with some surprising sunniness at times as well. This season will also feature episodes directed by Joe Wright (with writing in part by Rashida Jones) and Dan Trachtenberg among others. Black Mirror has been the place to spot veteran talent alongside promising newcomers since its 2011 debut, and this season looks to be no different.

Watch the Season 3 trailer for Black Mirror below, followed by the episodes synopses:

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In this world, it's easy to lose sight of what's real... Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror returns on Netflix October 21.

 

Created and written by Brooker, Black Mirror taps into our collective unease with the modern world and each stand-alone episode is a sharp, suspenseful tale exploring themes of contemporary techno-paranoia. Without questioning it, technology has transformed all aspects of our lives; in every home; on every desk; in every palm - a plasma screen; a monitor; a Smartphone – a Black Mirror reflecting our 21st Century existence back at us. The series has been recognized with an international Emmy Award, a Peabody Award, a Rose D’Or and been nominated for a BAFTA® award.

 

The third season features an all star cast including Bryce Dallas Howard, Alice Eve, James Norton, Cherry Jones,  Wyatt Russell, Alex Lawther, Jerome Flynn, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mackenzie Davis, Michael Kelly, Malachi Kirby, Kelly McDonald, Faye Marsay and others. Joe Wright (Atonement), Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane), James Watkins (The Woman in Black), Owen Harris, Jacob Verbruggen (London Spy) and James Hawes direct. Rashida Jones and Michael Schur served as writers on "Nosedive." Annabel Jones serves as co-showrunner and executive producer alongside Brooker.

All quotes via EW:

“Nosedive” An insecure office worker (Bryce Dallas Howard) lives in a world in which everyone obsessively ranks and rates every tiny social interaction. She thinks she finally may have found a way to rank alongside her friend (Alice Eve), who’s one of society’s elites. At first glance, this sounds like a classic Black Mirror setup — an existing tech element taken to a horrifying new extreme. But Brooker says it’s one of the most unusual episodes he’s done. “Each episode this season is a different genre; this one is a social satire,” Brooker says. “It’s got a creepy serenity to it and won’t be what people expect.”

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Image via Netflix

“San Junipero” How could you make Black Mirror episode set in the past when the show is all about the future? That was the mental puzzle that prompted Booker to write this 1980s-set tale, where Mackenzie Davis and Gugu Mbatha-Raw play recent arrivals to a beach town “synonymous with sun, surf, and sex.” “It’s kind of an ‘80s coming-of-age drama with a Black Mirror undertow,” he says. “Also, when Netflix picked us up, people were going, ‘Oh that means [the show is] going to be Americanized.’ I thought it would be a funny to fuck with those people by literally writing an episode set in California.”

“Shut Up and Dance” There have been a couple previous tales set in present day without any sci-fi elements (like the notorious pig sex episode “The National Anthem”). This is one of those, but Brooker adds it’s the “most grounded” of the three. Here a withdrawn 19-year-old (Alex Lawther) stumbles headlong into an online trap and is quickly forced into an uneasy alliance with shifty man (Jerome Flynn) who are both at the mercy of persons unknown. “A kitchen sink nightmarish thriller,” he says.

“Men Against Fire” A military story set in a post-war future. A rookie soldier (Malachi Kirby) is posted overseas, protecting frightened villagers from an infestation of vicious feral mutants alongside fellow soldier Raiman (Madeline Brewer). They’re hoping some new technological advantage will save them. “It stemmed slightly from thinking about drone attacks and how technology is alternating the face of warfare, but it’s not about drones,” Brooker says. “It’s a horror thriller, almost like The Walking Dead.”

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“Playtest” Brooker was formerly a video game journalist and here he revisits that world: A thrill-seeking globetrotter (Wyatt Russell) visits Britain, hooks up with a woman (Hannah John-Kamen) and tests the latest in video game technology – “a device as mind-bendingly sophisticated as it is terrifying.” Directed by Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane), Brooker notes, “Dan is fantastic at creating suspenseful and tense mood; this is our Evil Dead 2.”

“Hated in the Nation” The show’s first-ever 90-minute episode; a crime drama inspired by Scandi-Noir thrillers like The Killing and Borgen. A police detective (Kelly Macdonald) and her geeky young sidekick investigate a string of grisly murders with a sinister link to social media. “It deals with online rage,” teases Brooker. “It starts out like a stylish standard police procedural, then takes a bizarre turn.” Well, that we expected.

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