TV

Black Mirror Creator Teases ‘Death to 2020’ Mockumentary About 2020 That May As Well Happen

Starring Hugh Grant as a historian from the future because why not,

by Merryana Salem  7 December 2020
Black Mirror

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After a year of disaster bushfires, a global pandemic, chaotic elections of world leaders, global recessions, the deaths of millions and many beloved public figures including Kobe Bryant and his daughter, civil protest and unrest– we’re getting a Black Mirror-esque special to top it all off

On Friday, speculative sci-fi anthology series, Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker announced Death To 2020. Death To 2020 is not a Black Mirror episode. In fact, Brooker has said (ironically) that he’s holding off on the show’s sixth season.

“I don’t know what stomach there would be for stories about societies falling apart,” Brooker told Radio Times back in May.

Yet here we are.

As far as we know Death To 2020 will premiere on Netflix sometime in the near future. To make matters slightly stranger, we also know Hugh Grant will be starring in it. Grant let slip to Vulture last week:

“I’m doing a thing tomorrow, actually. Charlie Brooker has written a mockumentary about 2020. It’s for Netflix, and I am a historian who’s being interviewed about the year. I’m pretty repellent, actually! And you’ll like my wig.”

It will be interesting to see what Grant brings to a science fiction/dystopian-like project. His prior roles have mostly called for him to be a resident softboi romantic, aging softboi, or raging softboi turned seedy criminal. Nothing will hold a candle to his Shakespearean menace, Pheonix Buchanan in Paddington 2. But we shall see what this role as a future (possibly softboi) historian brings.

Just to reiterate, Death To 2020 is not a Black Mirror episode. Apparently. Personally, I can’t think of anything more on-brand for the series.  Especially considering the ‘death to’ phrasing in the title echoes back to the deathly hashtag used in Season 3’s episode, Hated In The Nation.

Series creator, Charlie Brooker was once more known for his Weekly Wipe television review program. In Weekly Wipe, Brooker summarised the week in television. The program is very similar to Australia’s Media Watch.

The prevailing theory is that Death To 2020 will be dystopic mockumentary take on a yearly roundup and review, combining the stylistic narrative of Brooker’s Black Mirror series with his talent for witty roundups.

“Even the creators of Black Mirror couldn’t make this up. But they do have something to add,” the menacingly dramatic teaser reads. Whatever this dystopic take on 2020 holds, it will be a walk in the park compared to living it.

Death To 2020 is coming soon to Netflix