It’s been no secret that Miley Cyrus was set to appear in an episode of Black Mirror’s fifth season. The very first look at her role has been released, and it raises a lot of questions. Footage from multiple episodes are strung together to speak to this season’s greater theme of technology and the way it impacts human connection. Cyrus appears to be a pop star in footage of herself, but what the shots mean for her character, fans can only speculate.
Cyrus shot her Black Mirror episode in South Africa, and during the shoot, the California fires burned down her and husband Liam Hemsworth’s Malibu home.
She spoke to Vanity Fair about that experience and the way it impacted her role in the show: “Losing my home, losing that peace, was very unsettling. I didn’t go back,” she started. “I felt like my roots got ripped from under me. I was working on Black Mirror in South Africa. The day I heard we lost our home, my scene was set at my house in Malibu. My character was having a panic attack, so needless to say the inspiration was there. Anne Sewitzky, the director, and I became very close, since going through all of this so far from home, she was really the only mother figure I had. Experiencing that together and in the realness of it all, we created something I think is magical. It’s hard for me to be proud of my work, I rarely walk away satisfied but I’m very proud of what we made. It really tells my story in some dark and funny way, as that show does, and as life is.”
The new series comes from mastermind Charlie Brooker and executive producer Annabel Jones and stars Anthony Mackie, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Topher Grace, Damson Idris, Andrew Scott, Nicole Beharie, Pom Klementieff, Angourie Rice, Madison Davenport and Ludi Lin.
Watch the full trailer below:
Black Mirror drops on Netflix June 5.
This article originally appeared on InStyle Australia.