Black Mirror Plaything ending explained: What does Cameron do with the Thronglets?

Black Mirror season 7 premiered on April 10, 2025, on Netflix, bringing with it brand-new episodes that fit the show's tech-dystopian theme. In the fourth episode of the season, titled Plaything, viewers are taken on a tech-woozy trip that paints a complicated plot about a man putting too much importance into digital lifeforms and slowly losing himself with it.

Warning: Spoilers for Black Mirror Plaything to follow. Reader discretion is advised.

In Black Mirror - Plaything, viewers see Peter Capaldi take on the role of Cameron, a man obsessed with the digital lifeforms known as Thronglets. Actor Will Poulter also returns to the Black Mirror universe in this episode, reprising his role as Colin Ritman, last seen in the interactive film Bandersnatch.

Ultimately, the episode sets the stage for Cameron's mission to ensure that Thronglets and humanity can form a symbiotic connection.

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Cameron manages to "update" humanity with Thronglets in Black Mirror Plaything

Peter Capaldi in Plaything (Image via Netflix)

At the end of Black Mirror Plaything, Cameron manages to "update" humanity by making Thronglets download themselves into the human mind. Throughout the episode, it is clear that Cameron is obsessed with these digital lifeforms, having made them his whole life. After he kills Lump, and the Thronglets see it, they decide that the human race must be improved, made less aggressive.

They convince Cameron to drill a hole in his head, allowing them to take over his mind. However, replicating this process with every human on the planet isn't feasible. Over the next few years, Cameron spends time updating the Thronglets with the most recent tech and is able to build a code that could take over the human conscience.

All that remained was for Cameron to get arrested for shoplifting and gain access to London's Central State computer. Once inside, he draws a QR code that the Thronglets scan through a camera and send out a signal to every electronic device out in the world. This signal allows them to download themselves into the human conscience.

While the episode's ending is left ambiguous as nothing more is explored, it does tease that the humans are now at the mercy of the Thronglets and that their plan is complete.

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What are the Thronglets, and who created them?

Colin created the Thronglets (Image via Netflix)

In Black Mirror Plaything, the Thronglets are created by Colin Ritman, a well-known video game developer. The developer was previously seen in the Bandersnatch interactive film, released on Netflix in 2018. Thronglets isn't mainly a game but more so a digital world that has life in it. Think about if a Tamagotchi actually came to life.

In this digital world, users create a sentient life in which they hatch eggs, and a Thronglet is born out of it. However, what makes it different from other games is its source code itself. The code evolves like real life itself, and the Thronglets themselves can interact with humans.

When Cameron is introduced to this software by Colin in the 90s, he grows obsessed with it and takes it back home with him to grow his own colony.

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Why does Cameron kill Lump?

Lump as seen in Plaything (Image via Netflix)

One of the major plot points in Black Mirror Plaything revolves around Cameron killing Lump, a drug dealer. The episode takes place in two different timelines, focusing on a younger and an older Cameron. While the older Cameron is arrested for shoplifting and is at the lowest point of his life, the past timeline shows just how Cameron got to that point.

Cameron never really had friends, outside of a man named Gordon and his drug dealer called Lump; thus, he became obsessed with the Thronglets. Lump would usually crash at Cameron's place too and give him drugs. However, when Cameron took the drugs, he was able to understand the Thronglets even better and thus got addicted to them as well. From there on out, he was taking drugs almost every day.

However, when Colin goes crazy and wipes off the source code for the game, Cameron is the only person left with access to Thronglets. He then finds Lump playing with them one day and dropping boulders on them, almost killing off the digital life form completely. This leaves Cameron very angry, who then kills Lump in a fit of rage and hides away his body.

Cameron's ideals then further align with those of the Thronglets, who believe that humanity needs to be updated as they are too violent. Thus, further continues Cameron's obsession with the digital life forms.

Black Mirror Plaything is currently streaming on Netflix.