New Black Mirror trailer is 50 seconds of dark, dystopian promise

Have we ever needed a new season of Black Mirror more? Thank the dark gods that one is on the way, and that Netflix has given us the briefest glimpse of what to expect with a teaser trailer and details on the six new episodes.

The cast lists are promising, the director roll call is impressive - hello there, Oscar winner Jodie Foster - and the episode titles are speculation rocket fuel. A creepy kid, a sinister spaceship, the merest hint of robot ankles, it's all so damn tantalizing. Prepare to have your brain blown apart and put back together again in the way that only Black Mirror can. 

As always, series creator Charlie Brooker is on writing duties, helped out on the USS Callister episode by Will Bridges -  who wrote last season's disturbing episode Shut Up and Dance. You know, the one about the young man being blackmailed that left you feeling slightly queasy by the end. 

We don't know when the new season will be available, but you'll find all the details we do have below. Will we need to take compassionate leave from work the way we did after last season's San Junipero episode? Only time (and maybe future trailers) will tell. 

Arkangel
Starring Rosemarie Dewitt (La La Land, Mad Men), Brenna Harding (A Place to Call Home), Owen Teague (Bloodline)
Director: Jodie Foster

USS Callister
Starring Jesse Plemons (Black Mass, Fargo), Cristin Milioti (The Wolf of Wall Street, Fargo), Jimmi Simpson (Westworld, House of Cards), Michaela Coel (Chewing Gum, Monsters: Dark Continent)
Director: Toby Haynes (Dr. Who, Sherlock)

Crocodile
Starring Andrea Riseborough (Birdman, Bloodline), Andrew Gower (Outlander), Kiran Sonia Sawar (Murdered By My Father)
Director: John Hillcoat (Triple Nine, Lawless)

Hang the DJ
Starring Georgina Campbell (Flowers, Broadchurch), Joe Cole (Peaky Blinders, Green Room), George Blagden (Versailles, Vikings)
Director: Tim Van Patten (The Sopranos, Game of Thrones)

Metalhead
Cast: Maxine Peake (The Theory Of Everything, The Village), Jake Davies (The Missing, A Brilliant Young Mind), Clint Dyer (Hope Springs)
Director: David Slade (Hannibal, American Gods)

Black Museum
Cast: Douglas Hodge (The Night Manager, Catastrophe), Letitia Wright (Humans, Ready Player One), Babs Olusanmokun (Roots, The Defenders)
Director: Colm McCarthy (Peaky Blinders, Sherlock)