'Black Mirror' Season 5 Release Date Confirmed in Allegedly Deleted Tweet

It’s almost that time of year again when Netflix viewers have their brains broken by Black Mirror, and a deleted tweet from the Netflix account @NX may have revealed exactly when in December the bleak sci-fi anthology returns for Season 5 — or at least one new episode, anyway.

On November 29, Twitter user @langdonsslut — who is fully aware of their handle — shared a screenshot of a tweet that confirmed December 28 as the premiere date for Black Mirror Season 5. The tweet was quickly deleted, leaving a screenshot as the only visible source. Inverse has reached out to Netflix for confirmation, and we’ll report back when we learn more.

The single episode premiere of Black Mirror Season 5 is titled “Bandersnatch,” a reference to Lewis Carroll’s 1871 fantasy novel Through the Looking Glass. But there is healthy speculation the episode, rumored to be a choose-your-own-adventure, is also named after the 1984 computer game Bandersnatch. This canceled Imagine Software title for the ZX Spectrum poised to be at the cutting-edge of gaming until severe mismanagement forced Imagine Software into bankruptcy before the game’s completion.

Further fueling this rumor, previous paparazzi photos of the episode’s set (shot in Croydon, a city outside London, England) reveal a 1980s record store where Bob Marley’s Legend, released in May 1984, is #1 in the store’s “hit list.” That seems to confirm the episode takes place in 1984. The same year Bandersnatch was announced.

If this is true, it also means that Black Mirror is doing another period piece, sort of like the critically-acclaimed Season 3 episode “San Junipero.”

Bandersnatch was also previously referenced in Season 3, appearing on the cover of a gaming magazine in the episode “Playtest.”

Black Mirror Season 5 is still expected to premiere sometime in December 2018.

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