Breaking news: Charlie Brooker is developing a new piece of tech that will redefine reality.
The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday received in their inbox the ultimate Easter egg to promote season seven: A leaked internal and confidential email from TCKR Systems Communications preparing the Black Mirror creator for the launch of a new product called Nubbin.
Black Mirror viewers will recognize the Nubbin as the headpiece that many characters across six (and soon to be seven) seasons of the Netflix dystopian series place on their temple before they head into some sort of immersive escapade with their virtual consciousness.
(If you haven’t guessed by now, this is not a real product announcement. But it is a real Easter egg… so, let’s keep going!)
Included in the “leaked” email is a live website introducing the implantable technology, while also making users aware of its risks. [Writers note: Anyone interested in Nubbin should check out the FAQs section, and then go watch season six episode “Joan Is Awful” before engaging with this product.]
There’s also a real LinkedIn page for TCKR Systems and a promotional video shared on TikTok. The video teases the Nubbin making appearances in new season seven episodes, “Eulogy,” “Hotel Reverie” and in the “USS Callister” sequel.
Here’s what the anonymous sender wrote in the leaked email:
“Hey Charlie,
We are almost all set for the launch of THE NUBBIN™ – whoop!!
I am sending you the final assets for one last check and when you’re happy I’ll send out to the press list I’ve created. LMKWYT xxxxx”
The TCKR employee quickly followed up with another note to “Please disregard this previous email.”
Here’s some background: TCKR Systems is the company at the heart of many of Brooker’s Black Mirror episodes, including Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, which was Netflix’s first-ever interactive feature. The TCKR Easter eggs throughout the series are very intentional as additive elements to a story, and Brooker has kept the TCKR thread alive for the series’ most devoted fans. In the Black Mirror universe, Tuckersoft as a company dismantled in one of the endings of Bandersnatch and gets reborn in 1984 as TCKR. The tech company has been referenced in “San Junipero,” “Playtest” and “Black Museum” episodes, to name a few.
Since Bandersnatch takes place in 1984 and before all of the Black Mirror episodes, it functions as a prequel of sorts to the entire series. “As Colin Ritman explained, there are many, many realities and universes, so I guess this probably opens up one of them!” Brooker told THR at the time of Bandersnatch and TCKR’s potential impact on the series.
This is hardly the first time Netflix and Brooker have had some marketing fun with Black Mirror. After Bandersnatch released, viewers were directed to a now-shuttered Tuckersoft website that included a prompt to a job posting for the company.
When season seven of the Emmy-winning series returns with six new episodes April 10 on Netflix, one of the sagas calls back to Bandersnatch with the return of actor Will Poulter as the company’s iconic gamer Colin Ritman, who was inspired by Jeff Minter, a video game designer legend from the 1980s.
That episode, titled “Plaything,” also stars Peter Capaldi and Lewis Gribben, and is directed by David Slade, who directed Bandersnatch as well as the season four episode Metalhead. The episode is written by Brooker.
After Bandersnatch released, Poulter took a step back from Twitter amid the loud reaction to the interactive film. Black Mirror fans will have to stream season seven to find out what brought Poulter back, and see where this Easter egg hunt goes.
In the meantime, check out Nubbin. You were warned!
Source: Hollywoodreporter
