[Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Black Mirror Season 7, Episode 4]

Summary

Will Poulter discusses returning as Colin Ritman for Black Mirror Season 7 with Collider’s Steve Weintraub.

Poulter shares favorite Black Mirror episodes like “San Junipero” and “Metalhead,” talks about unreleased Bandersnatch scenes and the message behind the ending of “Plaything.”

Poulter also teases returning to The Bear as Chef Luca, his upcoming project Union County, and his experience working with Boots Riley on I Love Boosters.

Charlie Brooker’s massively popular sci-fi series Black Mirror is back for Season 7 with another talented roster of stars, including Issa Rae (Insecure), Cristin Milioti (The Penguin), Emma Corrin (Nosferatu), Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers), and Rashida Jones (Silo). With six new episodes dropping on Netflix this month, Collider’s Steve Weintraub spoke to Will Poulter (Death of a Unicorn) about reprising his role as Colin Ritman.
We first met Colin in the 2018 interactive film Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, where the game creator played a role in the development of an adventure game adapted by Stefan Butler (Fionn Whitehead). In Black Mirror Season 7, both Ritman and Tuckersoft owner Mohan Thakur (Asim Chaudhry) return for an episode titled “Plaything.”
In this interview, Poulter talks about returning to the Tuckersoft offices “10 years on,” and reconnecting with the original team behind Bandersnatch. He shares his favorite episodes of Black Mirror, discusses unreleased Bandersnatch scenes, and what the ending of “Plaything” means. Check out the full conversation below for his thoughts on returning to The Bear as Chef Luca and getting to work with Boots Riley on the star-studded I Love Boosters.
Will Poulter on Returning to the Tuckersoft Offices in ‘Black Mirror’ Season 7

“It was great to reconnect with Asim Chaudhry.”

COLLIDER: With Black Mirror, do you have an actual favorite episode that you’re not in? Do you have one or two you think are amazing?
WILL POULTER: Oh, yeah. I’ve got a bunch. “San Junipero” I love, “Metalhead” I love, also David Slade. I love “Hang the DJ,” as well, with Joe Cole and Georgina Campbell. Those ones off the top of my head. “Nosedive” is fucking great, as well. It’s scary how many of them feel very, very real. Especially now.
Oh, yeah. What’s funny is there’s no right answer. There are so many that are so good. When did Charlie first tell you, “Hey, I might want you to come back?”
POULTER: It wasn’t that long before we started shooting. I think we shot it in January, and I think it was November of the year prior. So, it was pretty soon before. It was a very, very easy and excitable yes from me.
What was it like stepping back into the Tuckersoft office, that first moment where you’re walking back in? This is a character and a place I’m sure you never thought you’d be back in.
POULTER: Totally, and you know what’s cool? It was great to reconnect with Asim Chaudhry, who’s one of the funniest men on the planet. What I love about their relationship is they clearly don’t socialize or hang out, but they have an inexplicably brilliant working relationship. You know when you hear about musicians who don’t even like the people that they write with, but they’ve been partners for 10 years or something, and they only communicate via email? It felt like Tucker and Colin are a little bit like that. I think Asim leans into that idea, as well. He’s such a smart performer, and we just had great material to work with that definitely alluded to that being the nature of our relationship—pretty complex under the surface, a little.

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One of the things about Black Mirror is its secrecy, so when you actually got the call, and you were doing the episode, did you tell anyone, or is it one of these things where literally nobody knows?
POULTER: I didn’t tell anyone. I had the bleach-blonde hair for, like, a handful of days in and around the time that we shot, but I quickly dyed it back because if I did pop out to the shop to get some milk or something with peroxide hair, it would elicit questions about Bandersnatch. So, I had to dye it back pretty quickly. That just speaks to the power of Black Mirror, I guess.

Image via Netflix

Yeah, totally. I would imagine you were wearing a hat at all times and just trying to be super careful.
POULTER: It was baseball cap season, for sure.
When you’re getting ready to play a role like this that you’ve already played, are you rewatching? How are you actually getting ready? Or do you just step on set like, “I got this?”
POULTER: You know, I’ve never stepped on set and felt like, “I’ve got this,” truthfully, but it was really comforting to come back and work with the same team. There was definitely a comfort in seeing Asim there, and the Tuckersoft offices feeling very much like the Tuckersoft offices, just 10 years on. The art department contributes so much to making the experience feel immersive and reducing the acting challenge. There was definitely a comfort in feeling like I knew this character. I would say that all the creative departments contributed to the making of him, whether that was costume, whether that was hair, whether that was makeup, or having the same director. Having the same brilliant director in David Slade was huge, too, feeling that kind of consistency, and I loved it. Also, Lewis [Gribben], who plays Cameron, was such a great scene partner and such a brilliant actor. He had a similar quality to Fionn Whitehead’s character, these quite kind of nervous but very brilliant young men.
There Are Alter ‘Bandersnatch’ Endings We’ve Never Seen

“Charlie [Brooker] ended up writing a flowchart that ended up expanding off the walls…”

When Bandersnatch came out, did you actually go through yourself and try to get to all the different things, even though you were so involved in it? How much did you actually use it?
POULTER: I actually only ever really experienced it with a family member or a friend. I never did it solo. It was very interesting watching loved ones and people in your immediate circle wrestle with the decision to kill you or keep you alive. That was quite a funny, weird, and typically a Black Mirror experience in itself.
David Slade and others have said there are certain secret endings that are really hard to get to, and I’m wondering if anyone shared with you any directions or guidance to get to certain places that are harder to get to?
POULTER: Yeah. Truthfully, because it was pre-pandemic and so long ago now, I forget exactly. But there are even endings that never actually got televised. There are extra endings that we shot that we ended up having to cut for various reasons. It was really fascinating around the time and continues to be fascinating when people come up to me and share endings that maybe I hadn’t even heard of. It’s cool. Charlie ended up writing a flowchart that ended up expanding off the walls of his office very much in, like, a grown-up Cameron way. It just ended up becoming this sort of spider’s nest of a flowchart to keep track of all the different narrative strands and all the different options. Pretty amazing to think of.
The episode, if you do it, is 90 minutes, but there’s, like, 300 minutes of material or something crazy. It’s incredible what was done.
POULTER: It really is. And we kind of shot it on a budget, or in a timescale that, really, you would typically need or associate with so much material. We did it kind of on a fairly regular TV schedule with just a couple of extra weeks, which is pretty incredible. It was an amazing effort from all of the crew, as well as the cost.
Will Poulter on the Importance of Episode 9’s Message

“If I’d shown up on a phone call and just said that line, I would have been happy.”

Image via Netflix

The spin-off, if you will, is called “Plaything.” What was your reaction reading the script and seeing what ultimately they were trying to pull off and do?
POULTER: I couldn’t believe I got to come back, first of all. That was super exciting. But I also loved that the message of the episode was to think carefully and with conscientiousness and consideration in how we as humans interact with technology, and to practice compassion, empathy, and not fall prey to being apathetic and cruel, because the consequences will be pretty dire. I think that’s a very, very necessary message to put out there as AI develops in the way that it is, and kind of at an exponential rate. Technology and the advent of technology is, I mean, frighteningly fast. So, I loved that. I also loved that Colin’s personal message was, “If we’re not creating things to try and make the world a better place then what is the fucking point?” I love that that line was in there. I kind of just wanted to show up on screen just to say that. If I’d shown up on a phone call and just said that line, I would have been happy.
In the episode, Colin leaves the disk on the table and then leaves. Do you think he purposely wanted Cameron to take the disk home?
POULTER: It’s interesting. There’s a bit of debate around that. I think, yes, I like the fact it’s open to interpretation, as so many things in Black Mirror are, because they really embrace this idea of ambiguity, and it’s never patronizing. They always afford audiences the right to make their own choice, particularly if we’re talking about this kind of Bandersnatch world. I think that that was a very clever moment from Charlie in the writing and David in the execution, because it was almost a Bandersnatch moment, where it’s like, “Are you going to take the CD or are you not? And how is that going to impact the course of your life?” I think Colin is saying, “Go ahead and make a choice.”
I also think within Cameron, he recognizes a kind of rule-breaker, a bit of a renegade. So, I think Colin is kind of comfortable with the idea that he will make a rule-breaking choice, but this isn’t going to work and isn’t going to unfurl naturally if I push it on him and I make the decision for him. Inasmuch as we have free will, it’s got to be a choice of his.
Will Poulter Would Love to Return for ‘The Bear’ Season 4

“It’s been an honor and one of the biggest privileges of my life to play that character.”

Image via FX

I’m almost out of time with you. What are you filming this year?
POULTER: I’m in preparation for a film called Union County at the moment, which I’m really, really looking forward to. That’s it at the moment, so just kind of working on that right now.
Is Chef Luca going to make an appearance in The Bear Season 4?
POULTER: I would love that. I love The Bear so, so much, and it’s been an honor and one of the biggest privileges of my life to play that character, so I really hope so.
I’m a big fan of Boots Riley, and I know that you’re in I Love Boosters. Everything with Boots is just original and unique. What can you tease about your character? What was it about the script that said, “Oh, I need to do this?”
POULTER: It was one of the most unique things I’ve ever read. Ever since I saw Sorry to Bother You, I wanted to work with Boots, so the fact that I’ve gotten that opportunity is amazing. I play a very small role, and I feel very grateful to have even the tiniest space in that story and in the context of that unbelievable cast that is just so good—I kind of pinch myself—including my friend Naomi Ackie. So, I’m very, very lucky to be working on this.
Black Mirror Season 7 is now streaming 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