‘USS Callister’ Team Says ‘Never Say Never’ on Spinoff Series After Emmy Wins

By Joe Otterson

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – The team behind the acclaimed “Black Mirror” episode “USS Callister” said they would not be opposed to spinning the episode off into its own series after it picked up three Emmy wins on Saturday.

Executive producer Charlie Brooker said he and his colleagues would “never say never” to making a series out of the standalone episode, with fellow executive producer Annabel Jones chiming in “The opposite of never. Forever!”

The episode picked up the win for best TV movie, upsetting strong contenders like HBO’s “Paterno” starring Al Pacino and Lifetime’s movie about the Flint, Michigan, water crisis. “” was nominated for eight Emmys in total this year.

“Callister” featured a cast that included Jesse Plemons, Cristin Milioti, Jimmi Simpson, and Michaela Coel among others. In the episode, Plemons plays the chief technical officer of a gaming company who escapes into a virtual reality world of his own making modeled on a television show that is very reminiscent of “Star Trek.” He plays a starship captain and populates the bridge with digital recreations of his co-workers. If the virtual recreations refuse o follow his orders, he uses his godlike powers within the virtual world to torture them into complying.

This marked the second straight win for “Black Mirror” in the best TV movie category. The anthology series won in 2017 for the widely-praised episode “San Junipero.”