I didn't expect Black Mirror season 7 to bring back USS Callister—here's everything I found out

The final episode of Black Mirror season 7, USS Callister: Into Infinity, dropped on Netflix on April 10, 2025. As the show's first-ever sequel episode, it expands on the premise of season 4's premiere episode, USS Callister, which aired on December 29, 2017. Toby Haynes has directed the episode from a screenplay co-written by Charlie Brooker, Bisha K. Ali, William Bridges and Bekka Bowling.

As the 2017 episode's twisted ending left me quite astounded, I was most looking forward to the sequel episode in Black Mirror season 7. All of the main cast, with the exception of Michaela Coel, returned for the sequel. Cristin Milioti, Jimmi Simpson, Jesse Plemons, Milanka Brooks, Billy Magnussen, and Osy Ikhile reprised their roles from the 2017 episode.

The episode's official synopsis, as per Rotten Tomatoes, is as follows:

"Robert Daly is dead, but the crew of the USS Callister - led by Captain Nanette Cole - find that their problems are just beginning."

Disclaimer: This article contains the writer's personal opinion.

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Black Mirror season 7 episode 6 follows the aftermath of the 2017 episode

In the 2017 episode, Robert Daly, the CTO of Callister Inc., is credited with developing the immersive multi-player space game called Infinity. He secretly creates his own bubble universe inside the game and designs it to look like his favorite series Space Fleet (based on Star Trek) while naming his virtual starship, the USS Callister.

Moreover, he fills his personal universe with digital clones of his co-workers Nanette, Elena, Nate, Karl, and Kabir. However, his sadistic tendencies come to the forefront when he routinely tortures and mutilates them at will as revenge for their mistreatment of him in the real world.

At the end of the episode, Nanette leads her in-game co-workers into successfully escaping the bubble and into the wider game of Infinity. As his bubble universe is wiped out, Robert dies in the game world as well as the real world, leaving Nanette as the captain of the USS Callister.

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The USS Callister crew fights for their survival in the Black Mirror season 7 sequel episode

With much excitement, I watched the 2025 episode to learn about the fate of the USS Callister crew. They have been surviving by stealing credits from Infinity players at great personal risk. Like other Infinity players, the crew cannot respawn after getting killed. Hence for their long-term survival, they need to create their own personal universe - like Robert did - to stave off potential threats.

The only way to do that is to visit the Heart of Infinity, which only the company's CEO, James Walton, and Robert have access to. After realizing that the in-game Walton is living on a newly-created planet, the cloned Nanette tracks him down and transports him back to the ship.

Back at the company, the real Nanette figures out that the rogue players accused of stealing credits are clones of her and her co-workers that Robert had illegally created. She confides in Walton and the duo enters the game by reaching Walton's planet, where they come face-to-face with their in-game selves.

All four of them return to the USS Callister. But, the real-world Walton tries to kill the clones, as their presence, if uncovered, can put him behind bars and shut down the company.

In his bid to destroy the ship in the episode's climax, he sends an in-game party invitation to all the players who were ever robbed by the USS Callister crew. They launch a massive attack on the starship, which the crew struggles to fend off.

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Nanette confronts Robert in the Heart of Infinity in Black Mirror season 7 episode 6

Nanette and Walton as seen in Black Mirror season 7 episode 6 (Image via Tudum by Netflix)

In the real world, Nanette freaks out over Walton's attempts to kill the clones as she considers them human. I was left stunned when she got run over by a car while confronting her boss outside on the streets and was declared brain dead at the St. Juniper hospital.

Meanwhile, the in-game Nanette is determined to free the clones by using the Heart of Infinity. She was shocked, much like myself, to discover that it does not carry the game's source code as expected, but rather a clone of Robert. Walton had created Robert's clone with the help of a DNA digital cloner nearly 12 years ago, when the company was about to launch.

The cloned Robert has worked tirelessly for more than a decade to expand the game's universe, thus giving players a rich and immersive experience. He is surprised to see Nanette at the Heart of Infinity.

Robert offers to transfer the clone Nanette's consciousness into her brain dead counterpart to bring her to life. He also agrees to create a pocket universe for the USS Callister crew. As he begins copying the crew, instead of cutting them from Infinity, Nanette protests that the crew will be hunted and killed eventually. But, he promises to keep Nanette's copy safe with him, despite her knowing better.

A heated confrontation leads her to kill Robert's clone with the Bargradian cutlass.

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How does Black Mirror season 7 episode 6 end?

Cristin Milioti as seen in the climax of USS Callister: Into Infinity from Black Mirror season 7 (Image via Tudum by Netflix)

Soon after, Infinity starts deleting itself along with all its backups from the server. Nanette manages to insert the hard drive into the retro computer just in time to save everyone. She wakes up in the hospital to find the USS Callister crew residing inside her head. They can see the world through her eyes and talk to her through her phone.

Walton is eventually arrested by the police after being on the run for a few months. The surviving crew and Nanette come to an understanding wherein they give her privacy by closing their eyes whenever she needs, in exchange for her to let them watch The Real Housewives of Atlanta through her eyes.

It was a relief to see the USS Callister crew escape Infinity for good. However, their new, less-than-ideal living situation has left me wanting to see their story to continue in another installment.

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Catch up on all episodes of the mind-bending series Black Mirror season 7 on Netflix.