NetflixBlack Mirror Season 7 revisits one of its most beloved (and twisted) worlds in ‘USS Callister: Into Infinity’, a sequel to the Emmy-winning Season 4 episode. And it ends in true Charlie Brooker fashion (in short, it’ll have your jaw on the floor).
Before we get into it, here’s a brief recap of what happened in ‘USS Callister’: Robert Daly (Jesse Plemons), co-founder and creator of the massively popular virtual reality game Infinity, is disrespected by his colleagues at Callister Inc., especially by co-founder James Walton (Jimmi Simpson).
So, he secretly collects his co-workers’ DNA and uses it to create digital clones inside a private version of the game, based on his favorite sci-fi show, Space Fleet (Black Mirror’s answer to Star Trek). In this world, he forces the crew to obey his every command under the threat of pain and mutilation.
However, the newly uploaded clone of Nanette Cole (Cristin Milioti) helps them to devise a plan to destroy Daly’s private server, leaving him trapped in the game, while the crew escape through a wormhole. Rather than dying, they are transported to the Infinity universe – free from Daly’s control, but far from safe. Warning: spoilers ahead!
USS Callister: Into Infinity ending explained
NetflixThe ending of USS Callister: Into Infinity is a happy one… well, weird but happy (this is Black Mirror, after all). Nanette Cole’s two consciousnesses are fused, meaning she escapes the game.
However, the surviving clones – Kabir Dudani (Paul G. Raymond), Nate Packer (Osy Ikhile), Elena Tulaska (Milanka Brooks), and Walton – are implanted into her mind too.
Nanette is tasked with finding a way to extract them from her head, which she’s working on. But she’s in no rush, clearly enjoying the freedoms of the real world.
For the time being, they’ve all found a happy medium. The crew agree to close their eyes when she’s in the bathroom, changing clothes, or sleeping with a Tinder date, so long as she tunes into their favorite show: The Real Housewives of Atlanta.
As for the villains of USS Callister, the last remaining digital copy of Robert Daly gets killed by clone Nanette, leading to the destruction of the entire Infinity game.
NetflixYou see, earlier on, we learn that co-founder James Walton had created a digital replica of Daly and kept him trapped in the Heart of Infinity since the inception of the game, forcing him to create endless planets and expand the in-game universe for the rest of time.
This way, Walton could continue to benefit financially from Daly’s mind and his work without having to lift a finger.
Even though this version of Daly hadn’t done anything wrong, he proved himself to be the tyrant he was in real life and in his own bubble universe.
Clone Nanette makes it into the Heart of Infinity with clone Walton’s help, in a bid to ask Daly to make the USS Callister crew their own secure universe, which he does and loads onto a floppy disk.
However, he offers her a different option: allowing her to be transported back into the real world while saving the rest of the crew. But as he goes to load it onto the server, Daly says he’s going to “copy and paste” their code, indicating he’ll create another digital clone of Nanette to keep to himself.
She warns him that her clone won’t be happy – we all know what happens when Daly has too much power. They get into a fight, with Nanette picking up his Bargradian cutlass from Space Fleet and throwing it straight into his head, killing him on the spot.
This causes the entire Infinity game to start collapsing. Clone Nanette manages to load the disk and hit enter just before the entire game implodes. Little does she realize that Daly’s version of saving them all is to transport every one of them into real Nanette’s body.
NetflixIt’s not ideal, but it’s better than being left to fend for themselves and finding threats at every corner of the Infinity universe.
As for the real Walton, not only does his company fold, but he also gets arrested by the FBI on charges of fraud, digital human rights abuse, embezzlement, and failure to report an accident, among others.
But why did the crew need to escape Infinity in the first place? To answer this question, we need to go back to the beginning of ‘USS Callister: Into Infinity’.
USS Callister crew are struggling in Infinity
NetflixBlack Mirror Season 7 Episode 6 jumps forward in time by several months after the events of ‘USS Callister’. Even though they escaped Daly’s bubble universe, clone Nanette, Kabir, Packer, Karl, and Tulaska are having a tough time trying to survive in the Infinity game.
They’re constantly up against other players, and the stakes are high – if a player gets hit, they simply exit the game. But if they get hit, they suffer real-life injuries, and can even die.
This is exactly what happened to Shania Lowry (Michaela Coel), who we find out died a few weeks prior.
And if that weren’t enough, everything they need to defend themselves costs money in the form of game credits. With no other way to survive, they have to rob other players, but with real Walton constantly hiking prices, it’s harder than ever.
Clone Nanette and Packer nearly die during a mission, only to make it back to the USS Callister and discover their loot is just 34 credits – barely enough to cover fuel and ammo for the next few days.
“They’re monetizing the sh*t out of this game. Everything costs double,” says Kabir, to which Tulaska quips, “Cost of existing crisis.”
Their missions are also raising issues with gamers, who aren’t happy about the robberies, and are confused by the fact that the “bandits” don’t have player tags and they can bleed – both of which shouldn’t be possible in Infinity.
Out in the real world, we learn that the real Robert Daly died, having presumably starved to death at his home after being rendered physically unable to exit the game in the first ‘USS Callister’.
NetflixAt the Callister Inc. offices, the real Kabir grows increasingly concerned after spotting a series of complaints about the Infinity bandits (as in, the clones).
He tries to notify Mr. Walton, but the co-founder brushes Kabir off to make way for his meeting with New York Times journalist, Kris El Masry.
Meanwhile, the real Nanette Cole shows up to work and she’s clearly feeling paranoid after Daly’s death. She still has the DNA sample she retrieved from Daly’s home, which she stashes away in her bag.
She then hacks into the office’s CCTV system to watch Walton’s chat with Masry. Although the real Walton thinks it’s for a puff piece, the journalist soon starts asking the hard questions.
Robert Daly’s DNA cloner sparks suspicion
NetflixAfter mentioning the Infinity bandits, Masry pulls out a photo of the scene of Daly’s death. He points to the DNA cloner on his desk, saying, “There’s only a few left since the tech was banned globally on human rights grounds.”
Walton denies any knowledge, but Masry asks, “Did Robery Daly copy illegal clones into your game? Because if he did and that’s who’s bleeding in there, then this whole company is implicated, including you Mr. Walton.”
This gets him kicked out of the office, but Walton is left reeling. Unfortunately for him, Kabir’s quit.
Having overheard everything, Nanette offers Walton her help. In order to do so, she’d need unrestricted access to Kabir’s log system, which Walton immediately grants her.
She spots a video from a gamer who was previously robbed by clone Nanette and Packer and has a horrifying realization: their clones are now loose in Infinity.
Nanette, concerned for their wellbeing, tells Walton everything, from the way Daly died to the DNA samples. Walton digs out Daly’s computer system, giving Nanette access so she can figure out how to fix the issue.
USS Callister crew devise a new plan
NetflixClone Nanette also comes up with a plan: create their own private development world of Infinity, like Daly’s, only this one would be safe. They could cut and paste themselves into this new bubble universe and shut the digital door behind them.
“There’d be no more credits, no more other players, no more threats,” she says. “It would just be us and we’d be safe.”
Clone Kabir highlights a slight issue, however. In order to achieve this, they’d need to access the game’s source code, which in the game manifests as the Heart of Infinity, an “engine at the center of the universe that creates and maintains the whole thing.”
And only two people can access the Heart of Infinity: Daly, who’s dead, and Walton, whose clone form is dead.
They would try contacting the real Walton for help, but Kabir points out, “We’re illegal clones in his company’s game. If we get discovered, the feds throw him in jail.”
Clone Karl, who isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, inadvertently gives them a new lead when he reveals Walton’s living quarters are still on the USS Callister.
This shouldn’t be possible, given when they passed through the wormhole, the spaceship reset itself and only generated rooms for every player alive at that moment.
Walton seemingly died before entering the wormhole. However, as Nanette states, even if just one scorched atom of Walton somehow got caught up in their slipstream and followed them through, then he could’ve been respawned as a new player.
To find him, they figure out they just need to head to XJ-500, the planet that was created the moment they left Daly’s computer.
NetflixIn the real world, Nanette also figures this out, so she and real Walton enter the game and head straight there.
Clone Nanette gets to XJ-500 first, where she finds a feral clone Walton, who as you’ll no doubt remember, is nothing like his real-life counterpart (he’s actually kind).
He’s delighted to see her, and she tells him to join her back on the spaceship – although he won’t leave without Rocky, his only friend (a rock with a face painted on the front and a hole in the back).
But as they go to leave, the real Nanette and Walton show up. Their encounter goes full-on Severance, as Nanette says, “I’m the real you,” to which her clone replies, “That’s subjective.”
They explain that they’re not there to hurt them, and they just want to help. All four of them head back to the USS Callister – where the rest of the gang are busy watching their fave show, The Real Housewives of Atlanta.
Walton is the new villain
NetflixOn the spaceship, the crew reveal their plan to enter the Heart of Infinity and create a secure universe for themselves. But before they can go through with it, the real Walton grabs a giant gun and starts shooting at them.
Real Nanette tries to get him to stop, but he shouts, “They’re illegal.” They manage to kill Walton’s avatar and send him out of the game – for now – but not before he murders clone Karl.
This leaves real Nanette in a state of shock, apologizing over and over that she had no idea that’s what he was going to do. They tell her to go back to the real world and stop Walton from returning.
She exits the game and kicks the Nubbin out of Walton’s hand. They get into a huge argument, with Walton trying to scare her into submission by saying she was in Daly’s apartment the night he died.
Nanette says she doesn’t care and that she quits, but before she can cross the road, a car comes out of nowhere and crashes into her, leaving her unconscious.
The real Heart of Infinity
NetflixBack on the USS Callister, clone Walton makes a terrifying admission: the real Heart of Infinity is another clone of Robert Daly, one who is trapped in the center of the game, forced to work for the rest of eternity.
You see, years before Callister Inc., Walton was a young man “high on my dad’s trust fund.” He would go from place to place, investing in a whole range of ventures.
Although most of them were flops, when Daly showed him the prototype of his technology, he knew it would be a game-changer.
The flashback scene shows Walton visiting Daly for the first time out in his garage, which is a “shrine to Space Fleet” – complete with a “real Bargradian cutlass.”
Walton is wowed by the VR experience, but asks, “When do you get to shoot people?” Daly tries to explain that it’s meant to be more of an experience than a game.
But Walton simply has dollar signs in his eyes. “If you can roll this out for online play that is a f**kton of gold,” he says.
At that moment in time, Daly had created four planets in his virtual realm. Walton insists they’d need at least 50 before launch.
NetflixHe asks if there’s a way to auto-generate them, but Daly says it’s impossible as he’d need to check over every planet himself.
This gives Walton an (illegal) idea. One of the businesses he’d invested in came out of the porn industry – the DNA cloner. It was outlawed before it was launched, but he’s still got his hands on one.
“With a copy of Bob inside the code, fused with the engine, he could essentially work 24-7 inside a time bubble, building the universe piece by piece,” says clone Walton. “And he agreed.”
“That’s what’s inside the Heart of Infinity,” he continues. “The whole spinny structure, that’s f**king window dressing. That’s a distraction. Inside there is Bob’s enslaved consciousness, unable to leave. Just building out Infinity for Infinity.”
This explains why the real Walton is so desperate to ensure no one makes it into the Heart of Infinity. If they do, it would spell the end of his cash cow – and no doubt prison time.
Clone Nanette suddenly realizes that her real self is in serious danger.
Nanette Cole makes a tough decision
NetflixThey give the real Nanette a call but a doctor answers, revealing that she’s in a coma and unlikely to come out of it with her mind intact.
Even though clone Nanette has been through a lot, she decides she wants to go into the Heart of Infinity right now, and clone Walton grants her access.
When she arrives, she finds clone Daly in a virtual simulation of his garage, using his hands and mind to expand the Infinity universe. After an awkward introduction, Nanette explains that his real self created a bubble universe and cloned all of his employees to torture them and live out his Space Fleet fantasies.
She also tells him his real self is now dead. “Sometimes I think Walton exploited me and it seems like he only really cared about himself,” he says, to which Nanette replies, “You’re right, which is why I need that favor.”
Daly programs and loads their new universe onto a green floppy disk (all of the equipment is cut from the ‘90s), but he also presents Nanette with a second option: a red floppy disk, which would transport her into her real-world body.
As for the rest of the USS Callister clones, they’d be wiped from existence. In other words, she has the choice of saving the crew or saving herself.
NetflixShe chooses to save the crew, which leads Daly to reveal that there’s a secret third option on a blue floppy disk: save everyone. But he only wanted to offer her this if she made the noble decision.
However, when he goes to load it, he says, “Let’s copy and paste.” Nanette points out that he means, “Cut and paste,” but Daly reveals that he wants to make one more clone of her – to keep him company in the Heart of Infinity.
“I would treat her good. No funny stuff, unless she wanted, maybe. But I wouldn’t hurt her,” he says, but Nanette knows better. “You would,” she says. “I know that you don’t think that now, but the power that you wield is not a good fit for you.”
The final battle
NetflixThey get into a fight, with Daly shouting “stop” and pushing his arm out, causing Nanette’s mouth to disappear from her face. He then uses his powers to lift her up and throw her against the wall.
Meanwhile, on the USS Callister, the real Walton resumes the game and hits his clone over the head with Rocky, before heading into the control room.
He blows his cover pretty quickly (by giving Packer a coffee order), but before they can restrain him, he hits the ‘Invite Party’ button. This spells disaster for the crew, as it invites all of the players they’ve ever robbed for an intergalactic battle.
This paves the way for a few cameos, including Nida Huq (Anjana Vasan) and Gaap (Paapa Essiedu) from Black Mirror Season 6 episode ‘Demon79’, who turn up as vengeful players. There are two major YouTuber cameos too – TommyInnit and DanTDM!
NetflixEventually, they run out of credits, leaving their shields at 0%. Essentially, one more stray hit and they’re done for.
However, Nanette manages to grab the aforementioned Bargradian cutlass and throw it at Daly, killing him. Just in the nick of time, she finds the blue floppy disk and loads it, hitting enter before the entire Infinity game deletes.
When they wake up, that brings us to the final scene of ‘USS Callister: Into Infinity’, with our fave crew living inside Nanette’s head and the real Walton in prison for his crimes.
Black Mirror Season 7 is streaming on Netflix now. For more on the hit TV show, check out our Black Mirror episode ranking. You can also keep tabs on the year’s releases with our 2025 TV show calendar and our list of the best TV shows of all time.
