Black Mirror Season 6: New Cast and Characters
The highly anticipated Black Mirror season has arrived, and it's not messing around. Bringing you both a new cast and new characters to fall in love with, it's delivering on its promise to captivate us once more. One star it has to offer up is Joan, played by Annie Murphy, who is recognized for her role as Moira Rose on Schitt's Creek. Here's everything you need to know about her, along with the rest of the new stars set to entrance you in the first Black Mirror episode, titled "Joan is Awful."
Introducing Joan and the Cast
Joan is one among many new characters you'll be viewing in the opening episode of Black Mirror Season 6. First and foremost, you're introduced to TV Joan, played by Salma Hayek. This character is not only within the episode, but she's actually a version of the actual Joan who exists within the show too, a concept that rings true with Black Mirror as a whole, as a meta-narrative element unfurls throughout.
Joan's best friend, Beppe, is played by Michael Cera, who you may also recognize as pre-fame Cera from <i>Juno</i>, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He's also starred in <i>The Neighborhood</i>, Netflix-created show <i>You</i>, up-and-coming drama <i>Peaky Blinders</i>, and, of course, he featured in both <i>Scott Pilgrim vs the World</i>, and <i>Scott Pilgrim vs the World: The Game</i> as Jake's best friend Todd (BT) – a character exclusive to both the movie and the video game, and therefore not a real-life Cera stand-in either.
When Joan begins to build an army of killer sex robots, she recruits Krish, who you'll be familiar with if you follow the talent agency Boss Hog on social media. Avi Nash plays the familiar face onscreen, and the real-life version proudly displays the fruits of his labor in his profile picture, multiple times over.
Joan's roommate, Mac, is played by Rob Delaney, whose more familiar face you may recruit as the adorable Dennis Reynolds in fan-favorite TV show, and match-three game, it's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Delaney, too, is a comedy legend, who, alongside Nash, serves as a perfect counterpart to Joan's internal and external crisis. You may also recognize Barnes, who you'll recognize from tongue-in-cheek fantasy War Games and gritty drama Magic City, from the beautiful, albeit deadly, world of the Nightflyers TV show. You can catch up on this here, by subscribing to our Nightflyers reviews and guides, as there's plenty to share with you on and off the flight deck.
Joan's Journey
Joan is awful and needs to be stopped. Those two lines are perhaps the film's most poignant and put across Joan's character and journey in one fell swoop. Joan is a complex, flawed individual who undergoes an almost transformative experience that challenges many of her pre-existing beliefs to their core.
The meta-fictional theme in the Black Mirror episode is shown through the presence of TV Joan. TV Krish serves a similar purpose, although he's played by the real-life Patel rather than a recognizable talent listed among the cast. This evens the playing field a slight bit as any television show will create its own versions of its characters in its versions of itself, making it less explicit that Joan is a TV show character as she is one among many characters created within Joan's story.
Still, by definition, the implications indicate she is an invention for mass consumption intended for the purpose of entertainment. It doubles the challenge Joan is facing in her journey of self-discovery, forcing her to question if it's alright to seek improvement, even if that's her intention.
In Joan's fight to get out from under TV Krish's thumb, she recruits Mac and Beppe from her life outside of the limelight. These two more real characters fight for Joan to ensure she doesn't remain beholden to her persona created for entertainment, challenging her perspective and providing her with valuable support.
