Meet the star-studded cast of Black Mirror season 6
Black Mirror returned to Netflix this month with its first new episodes in four years. That's just a blip in the grander scheme, but the world nevertheless looks a lot different than it did in 2019. Simulated realities, AI chatbots, endless data breaches — life's begun to feel more malleable than ever and season 6 of Charlie Brooker's renegade mind-bender reflects that eerie truth.
Black Mirror's sixth season, comprised of five episodes, indulges in comedy, tragedy, and good old-fashioned scares. Once again, the show employs a roster of A-list talent — usually tasked with playing against type — to enact the bizarre tales. Even Oscar darling Cate Blanchett turns up, but, this being Black Mirror, her performance isn't the kind you're likely to see on the awards circuit.
Join us as EW runs down the most prominent faces you may have recognized in Black Mirror's sixth season.
Annie Murphy
Episode: "Joan Is Awful" (season 6, episode 1)
Role: The titular Joan, an office drone who feels out of place in her own life — especially when she discovers that the popular streaming site Streamberry (a not-so-subtle stand-in for Netflix) has pilfered her life for a tawdry television series.
Annie Murphy won an Emmy as poor little rich girl Alexis Rose on Schitt's Creek before segueing into more dramatic territory with the AMC series Kevin Can F**k Himself. She appeared on the second season of Russian Doll as a younger version of Ruth Brenner, and will pivot back to film this summer as the voice of mermaid Chelsea in the DreamWorks animated movie Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken.
Salma Hayek
Episode: "Joan Is Awful" (season 6, episode 1)
Role: The Streamberry version of Joan, then later herself, who is equally ticked off at the streamer for its contract loopholes.
After turning heads as a young telenovela star in Mexico, Salma Hayek forged a remarkably varied career in Hollywood with roles in From Dusk till Dawn (1996), Fools Rush In (1997), Dogma (1999), and Wild Wild West (1999). She became the first Mexican actress nominated for the Best Actress Oscar by channeling the famed painter Frida Kahlo in Julie Taymor's superb 2002 biopic Frida (which she references as a career high point in this episode!). She soon transitioned into a seasoned action star with Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003) and Bandidas (2006).
Her other roles include playing a cutthroat enforcer with a soft heart in Savages (2012) and a reserved gig worker in over her head in Beatriz at Dinner (2017). Recent turns include Eternals (2021), House of Gucci (2021), and this year's Magic Mike's Last Dance.
Michael Cera
Episode: "Joan Is Awful" (season 6, episode 1)
Role: Beppe, a Streamberry tech who breaks open the case for Joan and Salma
Known primarily for his teenage roles on the cult television series Arrested Development and in the movies Superbad (2007), Juno (2007), Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008), and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), Michael Cera has spent his adult years playing oddball roles in under-the-radar fare like Janicza Bravo's 2017 feature debut Lemon (one of the more underrated comedies of the previous decade), Molly's Game (2017), and Gloria Bell (2018). This summer, Cera can be seen in Greta Gerwig's highly anticipated Barbie movie as the one and only Allan in a sea of Kens.
Rob Delaney
Episode: "Joan Is Awful" (season 6, episode 1)
Role: Joan's ex-boyfriend, Mac, whom she still loves
After establishing himself as a comedian on Twitter, Rob Delaney went on to write and star opposite Sharon Horgan on the Channel 4 sitcom Catastrophe. He soon found mainstream success through supporting roles in blockbusters such as Deadpool 2 (2018) and Hobbs & Shaw (2019). Delaney went on to appear in Guy Ritchie's incredibly noisy Wrath of Man (2021), Judd Apatow's The Bubble (2022), and the short lived sci-fi series The Man Who Fell to Earth. This summer, he'll link up with the IMF in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. He's also slated to re-join Ryan Reynolds and new recruit Hugh Jackman for Deadpool 3.
Ben Barnes
Episode: "Joan Is Awful" (season 6, episode 1)
Role: The Streamberry version of Mac
English actor Ben Barnes' big break came with his eponymous role as Prince Caspian in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008). He would go on to reprise his role in the sequel, Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010). Barnes has also appeared in the ensemble comedy The Big Wedding (2013) in addition to the samurai-potboiler Seventh Son (2014).
On television, Barnes starred as Logan Delos in the first two seasons of HBO's Westworld, as Jigsaw in the Marvel series The Punisher (2017-2019), and as General Kirigan on Shadow and Bone (2021-present). He also appeared in an episode of Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities (2022).
Himesh Patel
Episode: "Joan Is Awful" (season 6, episode 1)
Role: The Streamberry version of Joan's fiancé Krish, a character played in the "real world" by Avi Nash
Himesh Patel spent nine years on the British soap EastEnders before landing the lead role of Jack Malik in Danny Boyle's what-if? trinket Yesterday (2019). He went on to appear in The Aeronauts (2019), Christopher Nolan's Tenet (2020), HBO's acclaimed apocalyptic miniseries Station Eleven (which earned him an Emmy nod), and the end-times comedy Don't Look Up (2021). Patel will next star in Schitt's Creek star Dan Levy's upcoming directorial debut, Good Grief.
Ayo Edebiri
Episode: "Joan Is Awful" (season 6, episode 1)
Role: Sandy, the employee Joan coldly lays off
Though relatively new to fame, Ayo Edebiri has quickly become One to Watch, namely for her role as ambitious young sous chef Sydney on FX's hit series The Bear, which just released its hotly anticipated second season. The 27-year-old actress and television writer began her career as a standup comedian featured on Comedy Central, soon penning and performing in Ayo and Rachel Are Single with Rachel Sennott (Shiva Baby) on the network. Also a writer for Big Mouth, Edebiri began to voice the adorkable tween Missy in 2020 after Jenny Slate stepped aside. She's since appeared in Abbott Elementary, I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023), and is set to join the cast of Marvel's Thunderbolts in 2024.
Cate Blanchett
Episode: "Joan Is Awful" (season 6, episode 1)
Role: Blanchett's image appears as a version of Joan within the show within the show within the episode — though it may not be Blanchett at all. We'll just let you watch it for yourself to figure out what's actually afoot…
Cate Blanchett has been nominated for eight Oscars and has won two (for 2004's The Aviator and 2013's Blue Jasmine) in a career that has spanned nearly 35 years. She rose to international prominence with her roles in 1998's Elizabeth (for which she earned her first Oscar nomination, followed by another for 2007's Elizabeth: The Golden Age) and The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999). She entered the blockbuster game as Elven Queen Galadriel in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the subsequent Hobbit films, and secured another Oscar nomination for Notes on a Scandal (2007).
Recently, Blanchett (in another Oscar-contending performance) played the titular older lover of Rooney Mara in Carol (2005), the ultimate femme fatale in Guillermo del Toro's stunning noir Nightmare Alley (2021), a feisty conservative news reporter in Don't Look Up (2021), a prankish monkey in del Toro's Pinocchio (2022), and earned her most recent Oscar nom as the namesake composer of Todd Field's Tár.
Aaron Paul
Episode: "Beyond the Sea" (season 6, episode 3)
Role: Cliff, an astronaut on a six-year mission with only one other crew member
After winning an Emmy for the once-in-a-lifetime role of Jesse "Hell yeah, bitch!" Pinkman on AMC's Breaking Bad, Aaron Paul lent his edgy charisma to 2012's addiction dramedy Smashed and Gavin Hood's superb thriller Eye in the Sky (2015). His television career then pivoted to voicing bum roommate Todd on Bojack Horseman (2014-2020) and acting in the later (and lesser) seasons of Westworld. Paul took a popcorn pitstop in 2014's Need for Speed, then returned to Albuquerque to reprise his role as Jesse for the Netflix feature El Camino (2019). Paul's Jesse also found his way into the show's wildly successful spin-off series Better Call Saul.
Josh Hartnett
Episode: "Beyond the Sea" (season 6, episode 3)
Role: David, Cliff's partner on the space vessel
Josh Hartnett debuted on the big screen in 1998 with the one-two punch of Halloween H20 and The Faculty. He went on to became an early-aughts heartthrob with 1999's The Virgin Suicides, 2001 war dramas Black Hawk Down and Pearl Harbor, the 2002 romantic comedy 40 Days and 40 Nights, and the buddy comedy Hollywood Homicide (2003), which is mostly forgotten, though it features some inspired comic work between Hartnett and Harrison Ford. He also starred in the noir thriller Lucky Number Slevin (2006).
Hartnett's later roles, on the television series Penny Dreadful as well as The Ottoman Lieutenant (2017), reshaped the actor as a chameleonic presence capable of far more than looking heroically pretty (and pretty horrified). He was the only vital part of Guy Ritchie's Wrath of Man (2021) and a highlight of the director's breezy, diverting Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre (2023). This summer, Hartnett will appear as nuclear physicist Ernest Lawrence in Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer.
Kate Mara
Episode: "Beyond the Sea" (season 6, episode 3)
Role: Cliff's wife back on Earth
Kate Mara starred in McG's 2006 sports drama We Are Marshall, dodged bullets with Mark Wahlberg in Shooter (2007), served Tony Stark a summons in Iron Man 2 (2010), and hiked a spell with James Franco in 127 Hours (2010). In 2015, she played Sue Storm in Josh Trank's ill-advised Fantastic Four reboot. This led to memorable turns in one of the great modern blockbusters, The Martian (2015), as well as Chappaquiddick (2017) and the social drama Call Jane (2022) alongside Sigourney Weaver and Elizabeth Banks.
On television, Mara's enjoyed recurring roles on House of Cards, Fox's hit drama 24, and in Ryan Murphy projects American Horror Story and Pose, leading up to her headlining the FX miniseries A Teacher. Currently, she stars opposite Brian Tyree Henry on Hulu's FBI drama Class of '09.
Zazie Beetz
Episode: "Mazey Day" (season 6, episode 4)
Role: Bo, a paparazzi pursuing the episode's eponymous character
Zazie Beetz is best known for playing Van in Donald Glover's genre-bending drama Atlanta (2016-2022), which earned her an Emmy nomination. As for film, the actress appeared in a disposable bit of Gerard Butler nonsense called Geostorm (2017), in which she was lively and natural while the movie was stilted and overly serious. The following year, Beetz starred opposite Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool 2. She was especially busy in 2019, working with Steven Soderbergh (in High Flying Bird), Joaquin Phoenix (in Joker), Kristen Stewart (in the creepy bio-drama Seberg) and Natalie Portman (in Lucy in the Sky).
Beetz has since portrayed a ruthless outlaw in The Harder They Fall (2021), voiced a politically motivated fox in The Bad Guys (2022), and showed up briefly in Bullet Train (2022). She's set to reprise her role in the musical sequel to Joker, subtitled Folie à Deux and slated for release in 2024.
Paapa Essiedu
Episode: "Demon 79" (season 6, episode 5)
Role: Gaap, a disco-loving demon who drives Nida (Anjana Vasan) to do horrible things
Known best for Gangs of London, The Lazarus Project, and his Emmy-nominated turn as Kwame on Michaela Coel's I May Destroy You (2020), Paapa Essiedu has also appeared in Kenneth Branagh's Murder on the Orient Express (2017) and as Jessie Buckley's troubled ex-husband in A24's mixed bag horror film Men (2022).
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