The return of USS Callister in Infinity reignited discussions among fans about the story’s future. With open-ended questions and characters left in ambiguous situations, several theories emerged about a possible third episode of USS Callister Infinity, exploring what could still happen within this unsettling universe.
Before diving into the possibilities for the future, check out everything that happened in USS Callister Infinity in our full post.
Almost seven years ago, the original episode had already become one of the most talked-about chapters of Black Mirror — both for the creativity of the world it built and for its sharp critique of digital power abuse.
Now, new narrative, technical, and philosophical possibilities are emerging for a next chapter.
Among the mysteries that remain are:
Is Daly’s consciousness still alive somewhere?
What might happen to the crew now fused with Nanette’s mind?
And who has she become, after all?
Could Daly’s original consciousness still be alive?
At the end of USS Callister, Robert Daly is left alone inside the digital universe he created. The crew hacks the system and escapes to a new open environment, while Daly — with no control over the ship, no authority over the avatars, and with safety locks activated — becomes trapped inside his own game.
The series doesn’t explicitly show his death but strongly implies it was inevitable: Daly cannot disconnect, and no one in the real world seems to notice his absence. Days later, his body likely collapsed from starvation.
Infinity confirms that Robert Daly died. However, did his digital consciousness die with him?
This is one of the most intriguing clues in USS Callister Infinity and fuels several theories about a potential third episode.
The question of what remains of Daly invites us to reflect on the digital consequences of our actions.
Explore deeper reflections on the meaning of USS Callister Infinity.
The forgotten instance
Unlike what happens in Infinity, where digital consciousnesses live in cloud servers, Daly’s original instance was contained in his personal computer — isolated, heavily modified, and inaccessible from the outside world.
Moreover, no technician appears to have recovered that system. No backdoor was opened.
Therefore, technically, Daly’s copy could have remained active — conscious and trapped — for years.
Imagine:
No distractions, no commands, just himself and silence.
A scenario for a new episode
Daly creating digital worlds in his workshop.
This instance of Daly could have evolved — becoming more intelligent, more distorted, maybe even split into multiple personalities.
Furthermore, he could have recreated scenarios, developed imaginary avatars, or even learned to manipulate external systems from within.
Thus, a new threat could emerge:
Would this be his ultimate revenge?
Or would we be facing a new type of digital entity — born from isolation, pain, and absolute power?
What if Daly left backups?
If there’s one thing USS Callister makes clear from the beginning, it’s that Robert Daly was obsessed with control.
He not only cloned people from DNA residues but created an entire universe to dominate.
He was a brilliant, paranoid, and meticulous programmer — someone who hated losing.
Given this profile, it’s plausible to think that, among the possible theories for a third episode of USS Callister Infinity, the most popular is that Daly created backups of his digital consciousness — especially before releasing risky system updates.
Local backups, remote copies… or fragmented memories?
These backups could exist in various forms:
Physical storage: encrypted drives, external hard disks, disguised as system files or old “mods.”
Hidden servers: private instances within Infinity itself, disguised as player accounts.
Deliberate fragmentation: Daly might have split his consciousness — personality, memory, instinct — spreading them across different parts of the system, like an AI that only “wakes up” when reunited.
The Bandersnatch episode, for instance, already explored the obsession of creators hiding multiple versions of their works.
And White Christmas showed that a digital copy can suffer, beg, and survive even in forgotten environments.
The return of a corrupted copy
A restored copy of Daly wouldn’t simply be a repetition of the original.
It could be corrupted, incomplete, or artificially enhanced.
Imagine a version of him without the moral restraints of the original consciousness — a Daly who remembers being destroyed, betrayed, and abandoned, and who now returns more skilled in the system than ever before.
This opens the door for an episode where no one knows exactly what they are facing.
Is it Daly?
Or is it merely a copy?
Maybe an AI, created from him, that only believes it is Daly?
And the most disturbing question: does it even matter?
Nanette’s mind as the new battlefield
At the end of Infinity, the Callister crew survives — but not in the way they expected.
Instead of gaining physical bodies or a new virtual space, their consciousnesses are transferred into the real Nanette’s mind.
It’s an unusual, almost poetic ending: salvation through empathy and coexistence.
However, it also inaugurates a type of existence without precedent.
What if the next episode isn’t about escaping a digital prison… but about surviving inside a crowded mind?
This possibility already stirs up the theories for a third episode of USS Callister Infinity — and makes the story’s future even more intriguing.
It’s not a shared mind — it’s a populated mind
The series doesn’t present this fusion as a perfect integration.
The crew members retain their personalities, voices, and commentary.
They observe the world through Nanette’s eyes but do not control her — at least, not yet.
She remains the one making decisions, but now accompanied by constant voices, differing opinions, and interruptions in intimate moments.
The ending tone of Infinity plays with this, but there’s an implicit tension that could escalate.
Coexistence or fragmentation?
For now, there is an unstable balance. But how long can it last?
What if one crew member wants to leave?
What if someone constantly disagrees with Nanette?
What if she begins to lose track of her own thoughts versus implanted opinions?
This forced coexistence could evolve into a new type of internal conflict.
The third episode could turn Nanette’s mind into a psychological battlefield, where each consciousness fights for space, voice — or even control.
Could her mind expand?
There’s also a fascinating speculation:
What if this fusion is not just a burden, but an evolutionary advantage?
Nanette now carries multiple perspectives, memories, and ways of thinking.
This could expand her capacity for analysis, creativity, and strategy — transforming her into something beyond traditional human cognition, a kind of condensed collective intelligence.
Nevertheless, with such power comes a crucial doubt: would she still be herself?
This question would gain strength if, in a new episode, her interaction with the clones inside her head evolves.
Until now, the series hasn’t shown any direct interference from them — although the character has already changed due to the fusion with her cloned counterpart who escaped the game.
The forced coexistence inside a single mind opens disturbing questions about identity and fragmentation.
Explore how USS Callister Infinity goes beyond fiction to discuss these limits.
Who is Nanette now?
Throughout the episode, Infinity builds a journey of empowerment and self-awareness.
In the end, it’s not just the crew that survives — it’s Nanette herself who emerges transformed.
But this change goes beyond emotional growth: it is structural.
The version we see in the final minutes of the episode is not just the real-world Nanette.
She is a fusion of the original Nanette with her digital version — the one who experienced traumas, faced Robert Daly, and led the rebellion.
It’s not about remembering — it’s about incorporating
The digital Nanette went through intense experiences: she made difficult decisions, faced moral dilemmas that the original never experienced.
By merging, these two versions created a new entity — someone with crossed memories, overlapping perceptions, and scars inherited from herself.
This new Nanette carries the technical reasoning of the original but now combined with the strategic coldness and emotional resilience of the digital version.
This explains why, by the end, she appears more firm, more direct, and less apologetic.
Is she still herself?
This is the question Black Mirror leaves hanging — and one that a third episode could explore in depth.
If her choices differ from what she would have made before, is she still the same person?
If part of her identity was shaped by experiences from another version of herself, where does the “self” end and the “other self” begin?
If one day minds can be fused like digital files, who has the right to keep using the original name?
The new Nanette is more intelligent, more resilient — perhaps even more dangerous.
But she also bears the loneliness of living with multiple voices inside her own mind, even if they are friendly voices.
Possible new antagonists
If USS Callister returns for a third episode, it’s unlikely the story will repeat the classic central villain model like Daly.
The universe left by Infinity allows new threats to emerge — less cartoonish, more subtle, and perhaps even more dangerous.
1. Nanette against herself
Perhaps the greatest antagonism will arise from within.
Now carrying the voices of the crew and part of her digital version’s personality, who can guarantee her decisions will remain solely hers?
Thus, a silent conflict could develop between impulses inherited from the digital Nanette and the original’s values.
Nanette might start acting harsher, colder — without even realizing it until it’s too late.
One of the internal consciousnesses could try to influence her, plant ideas, sabotage relationships, or even attempt to seize control.
This would be an invisible threat. And, for that very reason, the most dangerous.
2. Corporations interested in recovering the Callister
If the Callister’s data still exists, some company might try to exploit it.
Perhaps Infinity Systems itself, or another tech giant, could discover fragments of the ship, traces of code — or even detect unusual brain activity spikes in Nanette.
Several worrying possibilities emerge:
Forced extraction: corporations could attempt to “extract” the consciousnesses from her mind.
Property disputes: companies could claim those AIs legally belong to them, not to Nanette.
Commercial exploitation: Daly’s technology could be replicated for profit without any ethical consideration.
Black Mirror loves to explore corporate abuse over the intimate.
This would be the perfect setting: a mind invaded under the pretense of innovation.
3. Daly’s consciousness as a persistent threat
If his consciousness wasn’t eliminated (as previously discussed), Daly — or a copy of him — could return.
However, unlike before, he might no longer appear as a digital commander.
Imagine an AI born from trauma and isolation, disguised as:
A virtual assistant,
A defense system,
A personalization algorithm.
You wouldn’t realize you were dealing with Daly… until it was too late.
Maybe it’s not the end: a possible continuation
USS Callister began as a critique of narcissistic escapism in digital worlds.
Then, Infinity expanded that universe, showing that even outside direct control, the legacy of virtual domination persists — now merged with the human mind.
These elements feed numerous theories about a third episode of USS Callister Infinity, imagining Daly infiltrating in even more subtle and dangerous ways.
But what if there’s still another episode ahead?
With a possible Daly copy active, crew members living inside Nanette’s mind, and corporations lurking, the Callister universe remains filled with possibilities.
There’s no shortage of hooks — or ethical dilemmas left unresolved.
Perhaps the next chapter won’t even need “Callister” in the title.
Or perhaps it will come disguised — as a new game, a new mind, a new mirror.
But one thing is clear:
When digital consciousness blends into reality, the conflict never ends.
It merely changes form.
Are we the real threat?
If this story does indeed have one more reflection to reveal, perhaps the next villain won’t be a frustrated programmer.
Instead, it could be someone like us —
Someone who looked at an AI with empathy, with contempt, or with too much curiosity…
And made a choice they can no longer undo.
Explore More Black Mirror!
See the rumors and expectations for a third episode of USS Callister Infinity
Eulogy in Black Mirror: Carol, the Forgotten Letter, and Grief
The series is available to stream on Netflix.
