David Farnor | On 17, Dec 2015

Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Mackenzie Davis have reportedly signed up to star in an episode of Netflix’s Black Mirror.

Charlie Brooker’s sci-fi anthology, which meshes The Twilight Zone with the quiet horrors of the technological age we now find ourselves in, has been a huge hit ever since it first debuted on Channel 4 in the UK. In addition to winning an international Emmy Award, a Peabody Award, a Rose D’Or and a nomination for a BAFTA, the show has become extremely popular with Netflix subscribers in the US, something that prompted the streaming giant to snap it up for its own stable of original series.

Indie production company House of Tomorrow will continue to produce the new, Netflix-branded episodes, with Brooker and Annabel Jones, who executive produced the first seven episodes of the series, continuing to serve as executive producers and showrunners.

They’re not the only old faces returning, though, according to The Wrap, with Owen Harris – who helmed “Be Right Back”, a story about a company that can bring back loved ones as virtual dummy, using information from his online history – set to direct at least one of the episodes.

While details about his new story are being kept closely under wraps, Netflix is already off to a promising start with these first two reported cast members. Mackenzie Davis has been winning fans on both sides of the Atlantic as passionate programmer Cameron Howe in AMC’s Halt and Catch Fire – Season 2 of which is one of our favourites of the year. Davis also made a splash on the big screen as a NASA employee in Ridley Scott’s The Martian.

Gugu Mbatha-Raw, meanwhile, is no stranger to the world of VOD, with her stunning turn in Beyond the Lights being released digitally in the UK earlier this year. She’s been blazing a trail in recent years, with a stand-out performance in Belle winning a British Independent Film Award in 2014 for Best Actress. You can also see her as Tish Jones, sister of Martha, in Season 3 of Doctor Who.

They join an illustrious list of former Black Mirror stars, including everyone from Domhnall Gleeson and Hayley Atwell to Toby Kebbell – and, more recently, Jon Hamm himself. Oh, and that episode featuring Rory Kinnear as the Prime Minister… opposite a pig.

Netflix has ordered 12 new episodes of the show, which are currently under production in the UK. While we wait for further news – and an official confirmation from Netflix on the casting – catch up on one of TV’s darkest programmes with our list of 10 lessons we’ve learned from Black Mirror.

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