Perhaps since the inception of science-fiction, people have been fascinated by technology in its development, creation, and future capabilities. Even more than just the intrigue for the actualities and facts, however, lies a greater fear in the possibility of technology going awry; this fear, in turn, has molded into morbid curiosity. The desire to explore that which frightens people in fiction is practically considered human nature, and Black Mirror takes these elements – fear of technology developing passed a containable level – and plays on them, offering a future with capabilities that seem almost reminiscent of a forbidden fruit. The series has a take on this genre that is unlike any other media, making it exciting news that new episodes have been announced for this Netflix original.

Having first been released in 2011, Black Mirror has aired three seasons thus far, with the fourth season now being in the works. However, these seasons are not necessarily what one would expect from the “typical” show. Instead, each episode is self-contained, dealing with an individualized world with its own set of capabilities, and as such, episodes vary in length. Still, seasons do seem to carry some underlying themes, and Charlie Brooker, the creator, comments in an interview with The Telegraph, “We’re carrying that forward [into season four], so we’ve got some strikingly different tones and looks.

“We’ve got one that’s overtly comic, much more overtly comic than anything we’ve done. It’s got fairly mainstream comic elements, but also some really unpleasant stuff that happens. I haven’t even seen the rough cut of it yet.”

Although Brooker has made no comment on when season four will be released, Express Magazine speculates, “If the next season’s release follows last year’s example, fans can expect season four to arrive sometime in October.”

Hopefully, Black Mirror will continue to impress those looking for their dystopian technology-based horror fix.