The Cast of ‘Black Mirror’ Season 6

Annie Murphy as Joan

Annie Murphy as Joan

In “Joan Is Awful,” Annie Murphy’s Joan is said average woman with blonde, face-framing highlights, who’s “faded into the background of her own life and is going through the motions,” Murphy told Netflix. “One day she gets home after a long, difficult day, turns on the TV and sees Salma Hayek playing her in the day that has just happened.”

Murphy is best known to audiences for being “a little bit Alexis” in her Emmy Award–winning role as Alexis Rose on Schitt’s Creek. The Canadian native is also recognized for her work in Kevin Can F**k Himself, Russian Doll, Crank Yankers, Fairfax, American Dad!, Murderville, Beauty and the Beast, Rookie Blue, Story of Jen, Lethal Obsession and creating and starring in The Plateaus web series.

Salma Hayek Pinault as TV Joan

Salma Hayek Pinault as TV Joan

alma Hayek Pinault plays a fictionalized version of herself, who’s then playing Murphy’s Joan on the Streamberry TV show. “I play both an exaggerated version of myself and of Joan,” Hayek Pinault told Netflix. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play an interpretation of myself. I got to explore the concepts and clichés people have about me and be self-deprecating. It’s as if I created an alter ego where I could do the most disgusting, grotesque things that you would never do in real life, and have permission to do that.”

Hayek Pinault received an Oscar nomination for her starring role as painter Frida Kahlo in Frida. Since she first made a name for herself in Mexican series and films like Un Nuevo Amanecer, Teresa and El Callejón de los Milagros, she’s also become known for her work in Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn, Fools Rush In, Wild Wild West, Dogma, Chain of Fools, In the Time of the Butterflies, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Ugly Betty, Grown Ups, 30 Rock, Beatriz at Dinner, How to Be a Latin Lover, The Eternals, House of Gucci, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and Magic Mike’s Last Dance.

Michael Cera as Beppe

Michael Cera plays Beppe, who, in the trailer, reveals that “Joan Is Awful” is “an adaptation of Joan’s life.” Casting director Jina Jay told Netflix that “Michael Cera and Charlie [Brooker] were fans of each other for years. It was just waiting for the right role and schedule to align, and it finally did. Michael is interested in storytelling, and he’s generous. His role needed to say and amplify many ideas in a short amount of time and share himself with the audience.”

Cera is known for his work in Superbad, Arrested Development, Juno, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Paper Heart, Year One, Youth in Revolt, This Is the End, Sausage Party, How to Be a Latin Lover, Molly’s Game, Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, Twin Peaks, Life & Beth and Braceface.

Avi Nash as Krish

Nash is known for his work in The Walking Dead, Silo, Barry, Learning to Drive, Silicon Valley, There There, It’s a Man’s World, Hosea, Amateur Night and Postal Jerks.

Himesh Patel as the TV version of Krish

Himesh Patel plays the TV version of Krish. “Joan Is Awful” co-casting director Jeanie Bacharach told Netflix that one of her favorite parts of working on this episode was getting to cast Patel, whom she worked with on Station Eleven.

In addition to Station Eleven, Patel is known for his work in EastEnders, Yesterday, Tenet, Don’t Look Up, Enola Holmes 2, The Aeronauts, Damned, The Luminaries, Avenue 5 and Ten Percent.

Rob Delaney as Mac

Rob Delaney plays Joan’s ex-boyfriend, who is “trying to weasel his way back into her life,” the actor told Netflix. “Mac is the catalyst for what goes wrong in Joan’s life. Then we eventually discover what he is really like deep down, and it’s not great.”

Delaney is known for his work (co-writing and co-starring) in Catastrophe, Deadpool 2, Tom & Jerry, Fairfax, The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Great North, Big Nate, Birdgirl, Meet the Meerkats, Bombshell, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, Bitz and Bob, Life After Beth, Burning Love, Key and Peele and Coma, Period.

Ben Barnes as TV Mac

Ben Barnes as TV Mac (left) in Black Mirror Season 6.

Barnes may be new to the “Joan Is Awful” streaming universe, but he certainly isn’t new to Netflix fans — he plays the menacing (and entrancing) Darkling in Shadow and Bone. Barnes is also known for his work in The Chronicles of Narnia film series as Prince Caspian, Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities, Gold Digger, The Punisher, Westworld, Sons of Liberty, Seventh Son, Dorian Gray and Stardust.

Episode 2: ‘Loch Henry‘

A young couple travel to a sleepy Scottish town to start work on a genteel nature documentary, but find themselves drawn to a juicy local story involving shocking events of the past.

Samuel Blenkin as Davis

Samuel Blenkin as Davis

Blenkin is known for his work in The Witcher: Blood Origin, The Sandman, Atlanta, The French Dispatch, Misbehaviour, Dracula, Peaky Blinders, Pennyworth, Grantchester and Doctors. He also played Scorpius Malfoy in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on the West End.

Myha’la Herrold as Pia

Myha’la Herrold as Pia

Herrold is known for her work in Industry, Bodies Bodies Bodies, Modern Love, Premature, Plan B and The Honeymoon.

Daniel Portman as Stuart

Stuart is a Scottish lad who’s certainly game for a laugh. He grew up with Davis in their hometown.

Daniel Portman (who’s also a Scotsman in real life) is best known for his role as loyal squire Podrick Payne in Game of Thrones. Portman is also recognized for his work in Vigil, Karen Pirie, The Control Room, Robert the Bruce, In the Cloud, The Journey, Wasteland 26: Six Tales of Generation Y and Outcast.

John Hannah as Richard

Richard is Stuart’s father.

John Hannah (also a Scotsman) is known for his work in Four Weddings and a Funeral, Sliding Doors, The Mummy film series, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Transplant, McCallum, Out of the Blue, Rebus, Before You Go, MDs, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, New Street Law, Spartacus, Damages, A Touch of Cloth, Marley’s Ghosts, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, Overboard, Genesis, Trust Me and The Victim.

Monica Dolan as Janet

Janet is Davis’ mother.

Monica Dolan won a BAFTA Award for her role as Rosemary West in Appropriate Adult as well as an Olivier Award for her portrayal of Karen Richards in the West End production of All About Eve. She’s also known for her work in W1A, The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe, Empire of Light, My Name is Leon, Cyrano, The Dig, Call the Midwife, The Witness for the Prosecution, Catastrophe, A Very English Scandal, Vanity Fair, The Casual Vacancy, Wolf Hall, Pride and Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads.

Episode 3: ‘Beyond the Sea‘

In an alternative 1969, two men on a perilous high-tech mission wrestle with the consequences of an unimaginable tragedy.

Aaron Paul as Cliff Stanfield

Aaron Paul as Cliff Stanfield

Paul is best known for his Emmy Award-winning performance as Jesse Pinkman in Breaking Bad. He later reprised the role in El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie and in spin-off series Better Call Saul. Paul is also recognized for his work in Big Love, The Last House on the Left, BoJack Horseman, The Path, Westworld, Truth Be Told, American Woman, Eye in the Sky, Need for Speed, Point Pleasant, Joan of Arcadia and Veronica Mars.

Josh Hartnett as David Ross

Hartnett is known for his work in Penny Dreadful, The Black Dahlia, Pearl Harbor, The Virgin Suicides, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, Cracker: Mind Over Murder, Blow Dry, O, Black Hawk Down, 40 Days and 40 Nights, Lucky Number Slevin, Mozart and the Whale, Sin City, August, I Come with the Rain, Paradise Lost, The Lovers, Drunk History, Die Hart and The Fear Index.

Kate Mara as Lana Stanfield

Kate Mara as Lana Stanfield

Lana is Cliff’s wife, whose performance Brooker describes as “heartbreaking.”

Kate Mara is known for her work in House of Cards, American Horror Story, A Teacher, Pose, 24, Fantastic Four, We Are Marshall, Class of ’09, Transsiberian, Brokeback Mountain, Entourage, 127 Hours, 10 Years, Stone of Destiny, The Open Road, Transcendence, Moonbeam City, Chappaquidick, Random Hearts, Jack & Bobby, Nip/Tuck and Everwood.

Auden Thornton as Jessica Ross

Auden Thornton as Jessica Ross (left) in Black Mirror Season 6.

Jessica is David’s wife.

Auden Thornton is known for her work in This Is Us, Doubt, Palm Trees and Power Lines, Virtue, Royal Pains, Beauty Mark, Elementary, Forever, Blue Bloods, Pan Am, The Good Wife and Arlington Road.

Rory Culkin as Kappa

The uniquely named Kappa wields a knife in the trailer.

Culkin is known for his work in Scream 4, Signs, Columbus, Lords of Chaos, Under the Banner of Heaven, Swarm, Outliers, Halston, The Expecting, City on a Hill, Castle Rock, Waco, Sneaky Pete, Jack Goes Home, Down in the Valley, Gabriel, Electrick Children, Bullet Head, The Song of Sway Lake, Hick, Igby Goes Down and Richie Rich.

Episode 4: ‘Mazey Day‘

A troubled starlet is dogged by invasive paparazzi while dealing with the consequences of a hit-and-run incident.

Zazie Beetz as Bo

Zazie Beetz as Bo

Zazie Beetz is best known for her role as Van in Atlanta. She’s also recognized for her work in Deadpool 2, Easy, The Harder They Fall, Bullet Train, History of the World: Part II, Nine Days, Seberg, High Flying Bird, Margot vs. Lily, Invincible, Robot Chicken, Wolves, Geostorm, Dead Pigs, Slice and Sollers Point.

Clara Rugaard as Mazey Day

Clara Rugaard as Mazey Day

Clara Rugaard is known for her work in Love Gets a Room,  I Am Mother, The Rising, Press Play, Still Star-Crossed, The Lodge, Teen Spirit, Good Favour and My African Adventure.

Danny Ramirez as Hector

Like Bo, Ramirez’s Hector is part of the paparazzi scene.

Danny Ramirez is known for his work in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, On My Block, Top Gun: Maverick, The Gifted, Tales of the Walking Dead, No Exit, Assassination Nation, Silo, Valley Girl, Root Letter, Look Both Ways, This Is Not a War Story, The Giant, Lost Transmissions, Tone-Deaf, Orange Is the New Black, Blindspot and The Affair.

Episode 5: ‘Demon 79‘

Northern England, 1979. A meek sales assistant is told she must commit terrible acts to prevent disaster.

Anjana Vasan as Nida

Anjana Vasan as Nida

Anjana Vasan is best known for her comedic work in We Are Lady Parts and won an Olivier Award this spring for her portrayal of Stella in the recent West End staging of A Streetcar Named Desire. Vasan is also recognized for her roles in Killing Eve, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Hang Ups, Sex Education, Cyrano, Mogul Mowgli, Temple, Pls Like, The Children Act and Fresh Meat. Her London stage performances also include productions of A Doll’s House, Rutherford and Son, Summer and Smoke, King Lear, Macbeth and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (with Sex Education star Ncuti Gatwa).

Paapa Essiedu as Gaap

Paapa Essiedu as Gaap

Paapa Essiedu is best known for his role as Kwame in I May Destroy You. He is also recognized for his work in The Capture, The Lazarus Project, Anne Boleyn, Gangs of London, Press, National Treasure: Kiri, The Miniaturist, Murder on the Orient Express and Men. He has appeared in Royal Shakespeare Company productions of Hamlet and King Lear.

Katherine Rose Morley as Vicky

Katherine Rose Morley is known for her work in Last Tango in Halifax, The Mill, The Syndicate, Clink, Thirteen, Call the Midwife, Moving On, Cuffs, Vera, The Caravan, Love Matters and Little Crackers.

David Shields as Michael Smart

David Shields is known for his work in The Crown, The Liberator, Benediction, Treadstone, The Most Reluctant Convert, Judy, Doctor Who, Una, Doctors and The Bad Education Movie.