Black Mirror Timeline Explained | Seasons 1-4 

What do you make of our Black Mirror timeline?

Now that Bandersnatch is out, it lends a TON of credibility to White Bear being a cookieverse episode.

Did anyone else like that Black Mirror WASN'T a connected universe? I don't want the whole show to be under one timeline because the writers will start to focus more on fitting new episodes into that timeline rather than making an original short film. Also, the fact that none of it was connected is one thing that made Black Mirror unique. I'm fine with little Easter eggs, but I hope they don't turn the whole series into jumbled mess of plotholes like every other connected universe.

The actress from the airport in nosedive is the same actress from USS Calister.

Also probably worth acknowledging that episodes/seasons happen across several countries, and that perhaps technologies advance/are introduced at different rates in different places. Also, re Men Against Fire, it's totally possible for the nature of that war as well as the idea of "roaches" to have been kept secret from the public - it's also very plausible that, as the world becomes more and more insular, people stop caring about wars being fought elsewhere.

I am just glad cooper gets the justice he deserves for his death

If you combine some of the technology seen in black mirror, you basically get immortality. If you could upload consciousness to the robot that is seen in be right back, you basically have the person back, even if they are not technically alive. I feel like this is why black mirror can't be connected fully because the technology would be playing off itself and creating even more advances.

I heard a theory that Metalhead was like a hellish/punishment version of San Junipero which I why it is in black and white.

Is Black mirror basically like the twilight zone but more extreme?

There is a much more mundane explanation that Charlie Brooker himself has articulated for why there is interlinking between the episodes. Whenever they create a fictional brand or even technology user interface, they have to clear it through a team of lawyers who are on the lookout for potential legal liability (defamation, trademark, etc.), so it's simply much easier from a writing and production standpoint to re-use previously cleared material.

*In 'Crocodile', the architectural project Mia hides her friend's body at is the construction site the same place people are living in '15 Million Merits'. This can be seen on a poster in the episode at 20:10. They are described as a 'unit of 9 apartments combining ecology and economy' and 'affordable living for all with renewable power' They also look very similar with the black, square rooms seen in the episode. This is definitely the same place - no question about that. The idea I propose is that only some of the world lives in the '15 Million Merits' type housing. This is probably the case as someone has to have grown the fruit and produce the drinks seen in the episode and others must develop the technology seen also. The rest of the world probably used the people living in the '15 Million Merits' housing to harvest some more energy. There were also likely security cameras in the '15 Million Merits' apartments which explains how Jack from the 'Jack and Carrie' story in 'Black Museum' was able to read a comic book explaining the events from the episode. The creators of the comic were able to see what was happening and decided to create a comic about the absurdities. I don't know how this effects the timeline but I thought even this tiny portion of the episode had lots of interesting and helpful things to point out about the timeline. If you made it this far, thanks for reading. Please tell me if I made any fallacies within this or how this effects the timeline (if it does - which it might not).*

I would think that the episode metalhed it is conected with men agains fire but from the point of view of the roarches

I've been trying to figure this concept out for ages but I couldn't place some of the eps and only had a really rough idea. This vid is spot on and the 'whole episodes in cookies' idea is so great!! I can die in peace now knowing someone figured it out 😂

This whole video is like a Black Mirror episode. It fucked up my mind.

can you make one with season 5 in the new timeline?

I think that Crocodile might come after USS Callister because of the Fences pizza self driven pizza deliverer, whereas it's still a human in USS Callister.

I like that second theory. It really answers several things that do not match. I'm just asking, it's not supposed that at the end of Waldo, the character becomes a kind of dictator or tyrant, I just thought that that figure standing more at the end of the timeline was responsible for metalhead and the destruction of humanity, who finally He locked himself in an anvil dominated by screens. But yes, the theory of cookies is much more stable.

10:06 Season 6!

15 M Merits is definitely just fiction. I don't think it ever actually happened because of the 15 MM comic and the game show

but in 15 million merits there are several ads saying BIKING FOR A BRIGHTER FUTURE so yeah its probably after metalhead and its the last few humans trying to bring the world back to life

3:30 WHAT IF.... it wasnt a slip up but the whole episode 15 million merits IS the reality show

Great job Lucy.. 👏👏👏 Though I feel bad about you that you had to digest an overdose of freaking BLACK MIRROR... 🤯😖

Definitely think the movie explains how these could even be connected by how there are 1000s of alternative realities 🤷‍♂️ who knows tho

I might be wrong, but I have a sneaking suspicion that metalhead wasn't in the 6th season of the show.

The truth is said ALSO, in Nosedive and USS Calister, the same actress plays two roles: The black girl at the airport ( Nosedive) would be the cookie, and the black girl in USS Calister ( I don’t remember her name), the « original ».

In Crocodile it is mentioned that one of judges from 15m merits was at the hotel with a rent boy and the press found out. So if Crocodile is in the "real" world then so must 15m merits. Also season 5 kinda changes everything as in the episode smithereens a lot of episodes as referenced as happening at the same time as smithereens. Also smithereens is the only episode that gives us a year, at the start of the episode is says that the year is 2018

I know people want the episodes not to be connect but...they clearly are; or at least some of them are. At the end of Shut Up and Dance you can see adverts for the cookie and articles about the woman from the white bear and how the prime mister that had sex with a pig is going through a divorce from his wife. There’s even a sticker of Waldo. I think maybe it’s like only some are connected but if you follow all the clues every episode links to one another in some way. This isn’t a bad thing. The episodes so far haven’t needed a strong connection or even a return to other characters. Each story doesn’t have to relate but it keeps in the same universe clearly. There’s nothing wrong with that. I would prefer it if it all connects together rather than a random pluck and pull.

LOVE the cookies theory. Makes the show even more layered than it already is. Currently reading the Inside Black Mirror book and loving seeing how each episode was created

Great job, even going that far to fix timeline problems, though it would be highly appreciated if you gave us the images of the timelines you finally went for at the end (link please :)). Loved all the effort you put into these videos

This is one of the most brilliant BM videos I’ve watched on RU-vid. Congrats.

This is a little unrelated, but there have been lots of fan theories tossed about, and I'd like to share mine about the justification of Metalhead: a seemingly meaningless episode. First of all, side note, I think the whole 4th season had an overarching theme of strong female characters and having a black & white episode with a wild west feel to it is the classic hero's tale. But to justify in the grand scheme of the show, I think we find lots exposition in the protagonist's radio calls, the final scene, and in Black Museum. In her radio call out she mentions the trip being to retrieve something for a member of her group. The box they wind up finding, as seen in the end, is full of stuffed animals. In Black Museum, we learn that people can be put into stuffed animals and that they all eventually get outlawed if they possess 5 or fewer emotes. If they were to be recalled, they would not have a lot of options as what to do with them, given that cannot be destroyed because they have human rights. So I believe they were just stored away, and that the three characters were trying to retrieve a loved one. Tell me what you think. So glad to see that other people think about this show as much as I do.

My favorite way of looking at black mirror is that each episode is the same universe but a different what if. Like the world follows the same time line but each episode is a what if this happened in this universe how would it effect it kind of story. So looking at episode 1 of season 1 the universe goes on like normal but the first episode is a what if the princess got kidnaped and the prime minister had to fuck a pig scenario. It would explain why some episodes mention things from other episodes, because bits and pieces of those episodes exist in the main timeline and everything else is a what if

Whew, so...when should we be expecting a new video featuring the Bandersnatch references? >.>

Bandersnatch changes your timeline a bit

I wish Black Mirror made an episode about a tv series called Black Mirror where people put theories together to make sense of it. It's a mirror after all.

I’m still confused as to why there aren’t any news articles referring to the anniversary of the events in “Hated in the Nation” THOUSANDS of people died and it seemed like the world didn’t care. It’s my favorite episode so it baffles me a little more than other episodes lol

I think Bing named his chat show "15 Million Merits" for Abi :(

I found your last theory fascinating 👌👌

The white bear symbol becomes REALLY important in bandersnatch ;-)

What about the same actress in the episode nosedive that worked at the airport and the episode The USS Callister as one of the players in the game. I forgot her name but is it a coincidence or in nosedive she's in the cookie because in real life she works at the video game company? Did that make any sense? Lmfao I'm sorry if it didn't but I hope someone understood me

The song “anyone who knows what love is” plays throughout different episodes, adding to the idea of them being in the same universe/connected.

15 million merits definitely makes sense as an episode following the experiences of cookies. In the episode Bing kept making reference to his "doppel," I took this to mean doppelgänger or something along those lines. I'm glad to hear my theory is somewhat supported.

We need Season 5 already!!! Ugh I hate waiting !!! We need more shows like this in life !!!

My theory is that Fifteen Million Merits happens way way in the future, concurrently with Metalhead, which is what is happening outside whilst the rest of the population lives in the relative safety of the talent show world.

This show blows my mind and you guys just blew it even more

Neural company TCKR in Black Museum.. then TUCKER soft in Bandersnatch. Hmm...

Omg.. 0:25 in... He says some stuff is put in for fun, it's only if a character SAYS something or explicitly references something from another episode THEN it is canonical! So he's basically saying if it's in the background, like a billboard or ticker, it's NOT canonical! So I just love how you show that, then proceed to make a video that relies on all that background crap to make your time line... Really???

I Think that Men Against Fire does take place in a VR world, but i believe its further into the future and "Cloud" space is at a premium so they are actually weeding out Clones from the Cloud.

Thank you for taking out if your time to simplify it for the rest of us. I truly appreciate it :)

NOW THATS A BREAKDOWN BABY !!! The cookie theory brought everything together ! Congratulations!

this was awesome guys!! especially with the cookie realities in the end. I think you did this perfectly.

The only thing is that metal head happens last as you can see one of the dogs deactivated in the background when it pans past the bathtub

EDGE #316 - was in our universe the March 2018 issue. The release of 'Playtest' where it appeared was 21 October 2016

I love how smithereens can now be added very early in the timeline

15 million credits being all about cookies makes perfect sense and would explain a lot about this world actually, but Nosedive, no Nosedive seems like something that might exist at least in the Black Mirror universe

the first episode I watched was Black Museum and I was hooked! But oddly enough I have yet to find an episode that I like more than Black Museum. My favorite one.

What about Jack from black museum reading the book ‘15 Million Merits’

that's a massive amount of work done

I understood Callow's post about getting thrown out of the zoo as a self-ironic move to improve his score in society or this shows that he's already much liked again to write humorous stuff like this and apparently being on the trends with it (since he might not appear on her dashboard if that wasn't the case).

at 10:43 a rail crash is mentioned which could be connected to bandersnatch but i’m not sure it was a thought while these episodes were being filmed.

Life should not be such a senseless, arbitrary and randomly occurring sequence of events that we rely on something as being a good omen or sign about future events that people stand around like hungry zombies waiting for action to string together a strange sequence of events and then call the outcome Destiny. As usual, instead of confirming the existence of suffering and the universal need that we all have to be valued and understood, we treat the most horrifying examples of abuse and neglect as somehow being deserving of a cruel fate that the sick ones in society actually enjoy laughing at as a way to bond. I have not met a person in almost a decade who is capable of true empathy. I spend time with my mom and wonder if it is even her. How can she dismiss the truth of my life?

this makes so much sense for the Bandersnatch episode

I don't think arkangel would happen after hated in the nation because Sara keeps a Tusk poster on her wall, and she probably wouldn't do that if she heard his rude comments on tv

In Bandersnatch they show the metal dog from Metalhead. I feel like you may of overlooked this very important fact for Metal head, presenting the idea that it was all just a game or an actual movie within the series.

I wouldn't place 15 Million Merits early into the timeline simply because of Wraith. I would assume he's about late 30's, so his empire probably had near two decades to grow if he was hustling early. The way society is structured within this enclosed society tells me that humanity is at its endgame (thus life being a game, and a distraction from the world's actual condition.) Furthermore, the main character questions what it is that everyone is powering. The logical assumption is that there's no more electrical grids; because no more geo-society. OR, if humanity were subject to a *_dictatorship_*, it would end up being one fueled by human desire for entertainment. I.E. Waldo.

I have seen a few other reappearing actors, like the airport desk worker in Nosedive who calls on security. She is also one of the people at the company who are in the US callister episode.

Great video! Thanks for doing the heavy lifting and thinking so we didn't have to too much.

After watching bandersnath, there has been another theory about the weird timeline of black mirror in my head: In bandersnatch, we get, for the first time, an accurate description of what the white bear symbol might be, which is diverging timelines. It seems kind of oddly fitting for this symbol to also appear in the few episodes that seem hard to place in the black mirror timeline. So that might actually be a hint that, while those odd episodes may share a similar history, might be diverging points in the major timeline, where technology and humanity just went into a different direction. Like how tormenting prisoners for entertainment became socially accepted instead of locking them in cells like the news ticker implied. Or how a digital rating system became a valid replacement for class structures. It would be hard to place any future episodes on this kind of world, since it would just become increasingly hard to relate to. But diverging timelines may solve that problem.

This „white bear symbol“ gives me chills everytime... is it just me?😳

this is awesome thanks for enlightening but confusing me

I like how every season has one episode that features that one song "any one who knows what love is".

I see that Bioshock poster at 0:59 ;)

The theory on Victoria being a cookie, what about all the other people in the episode. Like the people recording and the people that are in on it.

I don't like to think of Black Mirror as one connected universe. The fact that cookies exist as "realities within realities" opens the door for all sorts of connected universe theories, but the bounds of cookies are so limitless it means basically anything could technically be in a timeline because it's in a cookie from the future or something.

This was a fantastic analysis! Great job :D

Great analysis, much better than the other video floating around

yeayyy! I’m so glad somebody did this! I was doing my own timeline thing, and I was getting a headache lol well done

When I seen Nosedive I immediately thought that society had become like a mmo game of some sorts where everyone was competing to get the highest rank in a game in order to get the best gear in this case special treatment like better houses and cars. You know like you need to be a certain level to use this item, etc. I normally find these theories a stretch and ridiculous but there's a lot of evidence sprinkled around each episode that means it's got to be true.

this video is extremely interesting. thank you!

I find that you have great arguments trough out this entire presentation. With the inconsistencies and other problems, have you considered that other parts of the world may adept quicker towards new technology and thus are also willing to experiment publicly with / on them? Also, sometimes the time in one episode of BM seems to jump forward with out any warning. While I haven't seen White Christmas yet, I am pretty certain that there are might be other clues in there depicting when it might have taken place in this fictional time line. Again great work and thank you for it

Helena Ravenclaw was not one of the Hogwarts Founders she was the daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw who was one of the founders.

This is very intresting, great video guys. Must've took quite a while

I have to object to the placement of Metalhead after Black Museum, as the bathtub Bella sits on as she slits her throat at the end is prominently featured in the museum, blood stains and all. Wouldn’t that place Metalhead before Black Museum?

Wish I would’ve watched it in this order !!

Can you release a full photo of the two time lines, they’d be very useful to have

I love that every time I see or read a “BLACK MIRROR TIMELINE EXPLAINED” theory every single time 15 Million Merits is placed very early in the timeline because of some Easter eggs or something with very passing references (if at all) to the fact that it takes place in a dystopian society where people are practically slaves. I just have a hard time believing that this world coexists or predates some of the stuff we’ve seen in other episodes.

It might just be me but what about the fact that at the end of fifteen million merits when the guy looks out the window into earth it's completely overgrown and barren

The actor who plays the crazy pain addicted doctor in Black Museum plays the man who interviews the main character in The Entire History of You.

Like like like great vod

WAIT! I’m from the future, I don’t have much time! Netflix have released Bandersnatch, a VERY SPECIAL Black Mirror episode. Some smart dude online found a QR code which takes us to an in universe Black Mirror website, tuckersoft.net ! From there we can get to a website where we enter an @ and we get RATED (sound familiar?). Please help us! Look up Black Mirror ARG.

There is absolutely no need for a zed eye to use cookies. Hang the Dj uses the same tech as USs callister. But the cookie idea at the end is really smart. Would explain a lot!

I'm sure they are connected in the minds of the writers but the reason they said it wasn't is specifically because they didn't want to have to keep every little detail straight and not contradict themselves

What if Metalhead are cookies in a game. The dogs are controlled by humans playing a game?

Guys I swear the doctor from black museum was in the entire history of u as one of the ppl talking to the guy

If Inception and Westworld were episodes of Black Mirror, where would they fit in the timeline?

I feel 15 million merits was during the time of metal head, why ?? Because, it's basically a fall out shelter against the dogs. Nothing gets in and nothing goes out, Wich is why they need the pedal social system to keep their generators running

Do the 100! That would be amazing

Wonder how the Fences Pizza thing works bc the delivery van seems more advanced than a delivery guy but Crocodile comes before USS Callister. Or maybe they happen simultaneously who even knows @CharlieBrooker

Here's my issue with the cookie theory, is within the episode Nosedive, while having a conversation with the truck driver old woman, the older woman reminisced about how when she was younger and that her husband had cancer and that he died from it. According to the series, Cookies are exact digital copies of human consciences. Its not been indicated that Cookies can age or get sick with diseases considering they are just digital copies, albeit are very much alive. In Fifteen Million Merits, Bing mentions that his brother died and he inherited the money. How can a Cookie die without a real human on the outside purposely deleting it? Lastly, in men against fire, it seemed to me to be too real and believable to be in the Cookie universe. Not to mention, considering the Cookie theory is based on Humans granting Cookies rights and giving them something to do in their worlds, it would be considered inhuman to have Cookies go to war with eachother or extingiush a certain group of people because of their "weak bloodline". Ive not seen a single Cookie bleed. Eiiiither way, its an amazing theory and I see why fans lean towards it, but I would think its more plausible that very few certain episodes take place in an alternative Universe, or maybe even "mirrors" the other Universe or Universes. Still, all in all they all represent our own in a way.

The episode "Hated in the Nation" gave us a short cameo of someone using the #deathto to Victoria Skillane. If we could say that she was killed during the mass genocide, then the White Bear Justice Park would've closed down.