Between the coronavirus pandemic, worldwide protests and looming economic uncertainties, it seems the world is ensnared in a dystopian narrative.
It's very possible that you'll have stopped and found yourself asking if we're living in a Black Mirror episode, which is what makes an advertising campaign that has emerged in Madrid all the more profound.
A collection of mirrored signs has been put up around the Spanish capital, claiming to advertise a sixth season of the Netflix series.
The mirrors have a header with the show’s logo and read: “Sixth season. Live now, everywhere.”
However, it's been confirmed that the posters are fake, more social commentary than an advertisement. The spoof campaign was developed by a Madrid ad agency Brother. It is not clear if they have been made in collaboration with Netflix.
This Black Mirror Season 6 poster is ingenious!#BlackMirror #2020 pic.twitter.com/YUmRH1AED6
— Anuvith Premakumar (@anuvithprem) June 7, 2020
Naturally, the posters have gone viral online, leaving fans wondering whether a new season of the dystopian sci-fi series will be appearing on the streaming platform soon.
The answer, most likely, is no.
A new season may be in the pipeline but Netflix has yet to confirm it. The last season was released on Netflix in June last year. It featured just three episodes and starred Anthony Mackie, Andrew Scott and Miley Cyrus, among others. The series was not one of the show's most critically acclaimed.
Last month, Charlie Brooker, the creator of Black Mirror, said he was not sure that audiences would be able to digest a new iteration of the show at the moment.
"At the moment, I don't know what stomach there would be for stories about societies falling apart," Brooker told the Radio Times, "so I'm not working away on one of those. I'm sort of keen to revisit my comic skill set, so I've been writing scripts aimed at making myself laugh."
Brooker may be right.
With so much going on in the world right now, and the societal dysfunction we all have to rise up to address, the bus-stop mirror could be all the Black Mirror people can stomach right now.
