‘Black Mirror’ Emmys history: Will Season 6 nab even more nominations?

Netflix’s “Black Mirror” returns to the Emmy Awards after a four-year break with its sixth season that premiered back in June 2023. The trajectory of the Charlie Brooker anthology series at the Emmys has been a tumultuous journey, particularly in recent years. The science-fiction dystopia used to dominate the limited/movie genre, winning Best Television Movie for three consecutive years at its height, before the Television Academy ruled that it must compete for the drama categories for its fifth season in 2020, ending its streak. Then the following year, the top category for limited series was changed to Best Limited or Anthology Series, placing “Black Mirror” back into the genre, but in the more competitive limited series race rather than the standalone television movies.

Despite the many radical switches, the program has managed an impressive eight wins out of 14 nominations overall. With its new string of six anthology episodes that star various actors including Salma Hayek, Aaron Paul, Josh Hartnett, Annie Murphy, Kate Mara, Zazie Beetz and Paapa Essiedu, Season 6 could find its way back into contention in many races, including Best Limited Series. Let’s examine the past categories and genres it has competed in its last four outings to determine what nominations it may nab at the 2024 Emmys.

Here is the complete Emmys history for “Black Mirror”:

2017:

Best Television Movie (“San Junipero”) (WON)
Charlie Brooker, Executive Producer
Annabel Jones, Executive Producer
Laurie Borg, Producer

Best Limited/Movie Writing (“San Junipero”) (WON)
Charlie Brooker, Written by

Best Limited/Movie Cinematography (“Nosedive”)
Seamus McGarvey, ASC, Director of Photography

2018:

Best Television Movie (“USS Callister”) (WON)
Charlie Brooker, Executive Producer
Annabel Jones, Executive Producer
Louise Sutton, Producer

Best Limited/Movie Actor (“USS Callister”)
Jesse Plemons as Robert Daly

Best Limited/Movie Supporting Actress (“Black Museum”)
Letitia Wright as Nish

Best Limited/Movie Writing (“USS Callister”) (WON)
Charlie Brooker, Written by
William Bridges, Written by

Best Limited/Movie Cinematography (“USS Callister”)
Stephan Pehrsson, BSC, Director of Photography

Best Limited/Movie Music Composition (“USS Callister”)
Daniel Pemberton, Music by

Best Limited/Movie Picture Editing (“USS Callister”) (WON)
Selina MacArthur, Editor

Best Limited/Movie Sound Editing (“USS Callister”) (WON)
Kenny Clark, Sound Supervisor/Sound Effects Editor
Michael Maroussas, Dialogue Editor
Matthew Skelding, Dialogue Editor
Dillon Bennett, Sound Effects Editor
Dario Swade, Foley Editor
Ricky Butt, Foley Artist
Oliver Ferris, Foley Artist

2019:

Best Television Movie (“Bandersnatch”) (WON)
Charlie Brooker, Executive Producer
Annabel Jones, Executive Producer
Russell McLean, Producer

Best Creative Achievement in Interactive Media Within a Scripted Program (“Bandersnatch”) (WON)

2020:

Best Drama Guest Actor
Andrew Scott as Chris Gillhaney (“Smithereens”)

As shown, “Black Mirror” performed much better when it was in the limited series/movie genre rather than the more competitive drama races, where it only mustered one nomination in a guest acting category. Even though it is now back in the former genre, the switch to Best Limited/Anthology Series this year puts it in a lineup that is stacked with contenders. According to the combined Gold Derby odds, currently “Black Mirror” has 100/1 odds to get into the top program race, with only a select 25 users predicting a nomination.

The same goes with the acting categories as none of the performers are predicted to get nominated. But lest we forget, all three prior acting bids for different “Black Mirror” episodes were not anticipated so there is the possibility that a number of the established aforementioned actors can break into the lead or supporting races as well as some lesser known performers such as Anjana Vasan (who was nominated for a BAFTA TV Award for “Demon 79”), Clara Rugaard, Danny Ramirez, Myha’la Herrold, Daniel Portman and Monica Dolan.

Brooker has also been undefeated in the limited writing category and has solely penned all six episodes of the sixth season, except the finale “Demon 79,” which he co-wrote with Bisha K. Ali. In terms of the craft races, “Black Mirror” has already received mentions from a number of guild awards with the episodes “Beyond the Sea” (starring Paul, Hartnett and Mara) and “Demon 79” (starring Vasan and Essiedu) singled out for their excellence. The former was recognized at the Cinema Audio Society (sound mixing), Golden Reel (sound editing), American Cinema Editors and Producers Guild of America Awards, and the latter was cited on the other side of the pond at the British Society of Cinematographers Awards and seven nominations and two wins at the BAFTA TV Awards.

Even though this season of “Black Mirror” is not currently predicted by our pundits to get anything above the line, remember that the Emmys love “Black Mirror” more than any other award show. Despite its untested waters in the Best Limited/Anthology Series category, it has proven it can nab those slots in the other races that combine those and television movies, so it will be interesting to see how Season 6 performs.

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