Charlie Brooker Says Some Fans Want ‘Black Mirror’ Without Americans

Charlie Brooker has revealed that some Black Mirror fans say they liked the show more before American actors were part of it.

Speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival, the 54-year-old writer and creator explained that audience feedback often varies, but some viewers have been very direct.

“Sometimes people say to me, ‘I prefer it when it didn’t have Americans in it and everyone had bad teeth, and then it ended, and the worst thing ever happened to them, and then they died. Can you do that please?’”

The anthology series first aired on Channel 4 in 2011 and moved to Netflix in 2016. That move also marked the introduction of American cast members and larger-scale productions.

Brooker said he tries not to think too much about what audiences want when he writes. “I think if you think too much about the audience, you go a bit mad. It gets in the way, I think because you feel like you’re faking it somehow or you’re forcing it.”

When Netflix took over, Brooker decided to take the series in new directions rather than stick with the consistently bleak endings that had defined earlier episodes. “Sometimes I’ve written things that are in a different kind of tone… I was just thinking, if I just did nothing but down endings, A, that’s really predictable and B, I’ll get very bored,” he said.

That choice led to San Junipero, the first episode Brooker wrote for Netflix, which ended on a rare positive note.

“It was an upbeat ending, an upbeat tone. And I think that one, I suppose it was writing for me… I was sort of experimenting and thinking, ‘Can I write an optimistic story? What happens if I do that?’ It was terrifying,” Brooker admitted. The episode went on to become one of the show’s most popular installments.

The latest season of Black Mirror, released earlier this year, featured a wide cast including Emma Corrin, Issa Rae, Chris O’Dowd, Rashida Jones, Will Poulter, and Dame Harriet Walter.

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