Editor’s note: The below interview contains spoilers for Black Mirror Season 7.
Every time another season of Black Mirror comes around, it’s cause for celebration among TV viewers. Yet depending on which Season 7 installment of Charlie Brooker’s Netflix sci-fi anthology series you press play on, you’re either in for a rollicking space adventure sequel, a bittersweet romance, an emotional meditation on grief and memory — or, in the case of “Common People,” an episode that feels quintessentially Black Mirror as it becomes progressively more and more bleak. The story revolves around a devoted couple, played by Rashida Jones and Chris O’Dowd, and the experimental procedure they invest in through a mysterious company called Rivermind, which starts to result in some interesting side effects.
Ahead of the premiere of Season 7, Collider had the chance to speak with several Black Mirror cast and creatives, including Jones and Tracee Ellis Ross, who plays Rivermind rep Gaynor. Over the course of the interview, which you can read below, the two discuss what it was like to reunite onscreen for “Common People,” while Jones explains why she was interested in returning to Black Mirror after previously writing “Nosedive,” and Ross reveals whether Gaynor can be fully trusted.
COLLIDER: “Common People” packs such a punch to start off Season 7. Rashida, I know that you’ve been a part of the show before, having written an episode that’s one of my personal favorites, but I’m curious about the motivation behind your decision to want to be involved in front of the camera this time.
RASHIDA JONES: It was a very hard choice. [Laughs] No, I’m just kidding. It was not. It’s simply not a difficult decision to make because any time I can be a part of this universe, I will say yes. I just have to be asked. Truly, I’m so happy to be asked.
Tracee, for you, when it comes to being a part of Black Mirror, do you even really have to know what the episode involves?
TRACEE ELLIS ROSS: No.
You just hear Black Mirror, and you’re on board.
ROSS: “You’ve been offered Black Mirror.” “Yeah.” “Do you want to know what the story is?” “Sure! I mean, I’m still doing it.” [Laughs] I was really excited. And then it was a bonus, the cherry on top, that Rashida was in it, and it was Rashida’s episode. I was like, “Yes!”
JONES: To work with friends is truly a joy. And I said yes because, of course, I’m going to say yes, and then I was like, “Wait, who’s going to be in this episode? Great! Friends!”
ROSS: I think you’re the one who told me. I was like, “Wait, oh my god!” That’s hilarious. It was you. You asked me.
Rashida Jones and Tracee Ellis Ross Discuss Their Scenes in ‘Black Mirror’s “Common People”

I love that we realized this in real time. I know that the two of you have shared the screen before, but what felt different about working on this episode? The scenes that you’re sharing, there’s really a sinister undertone to a lot of them with the Rivermind component.
JONES: It didn’t feel that way to me because, honestly, I counted on our past relationship. The warmth that I have for Tracee, I felt was useful because I come into her office exhausted, frustrated, looking for answers and looking for support, and that’s a great place to start from, even though ultimately I’m angry and I feel betrayed. At the beginning of it, it was helpful to actually like that person.
ROSS: Also, I have to say that when you are playing dark stuff, for me anyway, it all comes from the same place. It’s a place of truth. So, it’s not like playing comedy necessarily feels different than drama, and what we were playing in those scenes was not difficult against each other. So, it just feels fun. I love acting. It’s like playing imagination, so it was really fun to be in an alternate reality like that. Until Mike hits the thing off the counter. Then I was like, “What is this?” [Laughs]

Related

‘Black Mirror’s Charlie Brooker and Jessica Rhoades Answer All Our Spoiler Questions About Season 7, From Surprising Cameos To Easter Eggs

They also discuss why the “USS Callister” sequel is even longer than the first, bringing back Will Poulter’s Colin Ritman, and more.

Speaking of truth, Tracee, the way this all kicks off is when you approach Chris [O’Dowd]’s character about this procedure, and your character is living proof of that. The more things start to go along, the more you start to wonder how much of this was an honest pitch. Do you feel like she’s telling the truth? Did you ever think about that while playing her — how much of it might be about trying to sell the product?
ROSS: I played it as the truth, personally. I don’t know anyone who sets out to be evil or do that, and I would like to keep it that way. I don’t know anyone personally who is okay knowing that they are doing wrong. There’s usually a place where they’ve decided they are right for doing what other people might think is wrong. So, I do think that she was a Riverminder, and her husband made a decision about her in that accident, and she is just caught in the same system that she is perpetuating now.
Black Mirror Season 7 is available to stream on Netflix.

Black Mirror

Release Date

December 4, 2011

Network

Channel 4, Netflix

Directors

Owen Harris, Toby Haynes, James Hawes, David Slade, Carl Tibbetts, Ally Pankiw, Bryn Higgins, Dan Trachtenberg, Euros Lyn, Jodie Foster, Joe Wright, John Hillcoat, Sam Miller, Tim Van Patten, Uta Briesewitz, Colm McCarthy, Jakob Verbruggen, James Watkins, John Crowley, Otto Bathurst, Anne Sewitsky, Brian Welsh

Writers

Jesse Armstrong