TV & Movies

Black Mirror fans baffled by new movie Foe “copying” episode

Lucy-Jo Finnighan
Stills from Black Mirror and Normal PeopleNetflix/BBC

An upcoming sci-fi movie is drawing comparisons to a recent Black Mirror episode, and Twitter has a lot to say about it.

After three years of waiting, Season 6 of Black Mirror finally arrived on Netflix in June, with plenty of new episodes and characters to enjoy.

One episode in particular is rather memorable, both for its stars and its story. Said episode is titled ‘Beyond the Sea’, and features Aaron Paul and Josh Hartnett in rather haunting roles.

However, this concept is now seemingly being re-imagined, as an upcoming science fiction thriller film starring Oscar nominees Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal has a very similar premise, which social media has certainly noticed.

New sci-fi movie Foe is accused of doing what Black Mirror’s already done

Paul Mescal and Saoirse Ronan are set to star in a movie titled Foe, directed by Garth Davis.

The logline for Foe is as such: “Set in 2065 in the rural Midwest, the sci-fi mind bender follows Junior (Mescal), a farmer who is offered a chance to live in space while his wife, Hen (Ronan), stays at home with an AI version of him.”

Sound familiar? If so, you’ve probably seen ‘Beyond the Sea’ as part of Black Mirror’s sixth season. We won’t fully explain what happens in the episode as to avoid spoilers, but you can check out a longer synopsis article here.

We weren’t the only ones to notice the similarities between plots. In fact, many Twitter users responded to the announcement of the film, citing Black Mirror as inspiration. These comments border on accusing Foe of copying the Netflix show, with one user stating: “We’ve seen this movie before…”

Check out the responses below:

Is Foe actually based on Black Mirror?

No. While the two stories have similar premises, the movie will be adapted from the 2018 best-selling novel by Iain Reid, which was written long before ‘Beyond the Sea’ came out.

The description for the novel is as follows: “In Iain Reid’s second haunting, philosophical puzzle of a novel, set in the near-future, Junior and Henrietta live a comfortable, solitary life on their farm, far from the city lights, but in close quarters with each other.

“One day, a stranger from the city arrives with alarming news: Junior has been randomly selected to travel far away from the farm… very far away. The most unusual part? Arrangements have already been made so that when he leaves, Henrietta won’t have a chance to miss him, because she won’t be left alone – not even for a moment. Henrietta will have company. Familiar company.

“Told in Reid’s sharp and evocative style, Foe examines the nature of domestic relationships, self-determination, and what it means to be (or not to be) a person. An eerily entrancing page-turner, it churns with unease and suspense from the first words to its shocking finale.”

The plot details are just different enough that it’s clearly its own story. This novel was actually recognized by some fans, who made a point to let people know on Twitter:

One user even hyped the book up, stating “The novel was pretty well written, and it’s pretty short which lends itself well to a screenplay. It’s from the same writer as ‘I’m Thinking of Ending Things.’” Judging by the Netflix adaptation of that story, we’re in for a surreal treat with Foe.

Foe was acquired by Amazon Studios at the Cannes Film Festival back in 2021, and will likely premiere this fall. An interview that Ronan gave a few months ago revealed that she and Mescal had become “genuine friends” while filming in Australia.

“We knew each other sort of in passing before, just through friends,” she said. “We’ve become very, very close since making the film. We’re genuine friends; we’re not Hollywood friends.”

Black Mirror Season 6 is now available to view in full on Netflix. Check out our other Black Mirror coverage below:

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