Warning! This article contains major spoilers for Black Mirror season 7's episode 6, "USS Callister: Into Infinity."Black Mirror season 4, had a conclusive ending where the crew of the titular space vessel managed to shut down Capt. Robert Daly's pocket universe and enter the main gaming server. Even though this seemed like a positive closure for the virtual characters of the series, season 7's episode 6 establishes that the digital clones are not doing too well.

With no player tags, the crew of the USS Callister find themselves facing real-world players of the central Infinity game and struggle to stay alive as they try to collect game credits to sustain themselves. This is when Nanette and the crew come up with an intriguing idea of safeguarding their future in the game without having to face other players. However, to their dismay, in their pursuit of protecting themselves, they not only end up facing new enemies but also cross paths with old ones. Luckily for them, all ends well in the Black Mirror episode's finale moments.

Where Nanette's Clone & The USS Callister Crew Are In Black Mirror Season 7 Episode 6's Ending

The Game Collapses, But Nanette & The Crew Somehow Make It Out

Nanette finds a digitally cloned version of Robert when she visits the Heart of Infinity. Fortunately, this version of the Jesse Plemons character seems far less evil than his previous counterparts from Black Mirror season 4. When Nanette asks him for help and tells him how she and her crew wish to live in a separate, locked-off universe in a secure cloud server, Robert agrees to assist her. Robert reveals that he can not only save her crew by sending them off to a sealed universe but also transfer her consciousness to her real physical body outside the virtual realm.

...In USS Callister: Into Infinity's ending moments, the virtual Nanette awakens in her human counterpart's body.

However, things do not go as planned, and Nanette is forced to kill Robert. Robert's death triggers the game's universe's self-destruction, which nearly destroys Nanette and the entire crew, along with the entire virtual realm in Infinity. However, in the nick of time, Nanette manages to use the right data disks to transfer her consciousness to her real human body while her crew ends up in a new pocket universe. As a result, in USS Callister: Into Infinity's ending moments, the virtual Nanette awakens in her human counterpart's body.

To her surprise, however, the pocket universe the remaining USS Callister crew end up in exists in her own head. This allows the crew to see the physical world through Nanette's eyes and communicate with her by calling her on her phone. After the episode, only two USS Callister crew end up dead: Carl and Shania. While Carl gets murdered by the parent version of Walton, Shania dies off-screen before the events of season 4's episode 1.

Why Nanette Kills Bob In USS Callister: Into Infinity's Ending

Nanette Realizes He Still Has Evil Tendencies

The Jesse Plemons character initially seems like a kinder version of his human counterpart who died in season 4's episode 1. However, when Nanette asks him for help, he starts showing his true colors. Instead of "cutting and pasting" Nanette's consciousness into her real-world body as promised, he attempts to "copy" it and keep a version of her with him in the Heart of Infinity. Put simply, he plans to create another digital clone of Nanette and keep her with him before transferring one version of her to her human body.

Realizing he is doing exactly what his human counterpart did in season 4's episode 1, Nanette tries to stop him. History repeats itself when Robert misuses his godly powers in the game to make Nanette's mouth disappear. When Robert attacks her, Nanette reaches the end of her wits and kills him before he can establish control over her again.

The Aftermath Of Infinity's Collapse & Walton's Fate Explained

The Human Walton Ends Up In Prison While Infinity Ends For Good

The entire game collapses after Nanette kills Robert, and all players logged into Infinity see the same message: "Fate Content Error 606." As Kabir's human version explains to Walton, the message confirms that the game has been deleted for good from the entire server. This marks the end of both the game and the company that developed it. After being on the run for three months, James Walton, too, gets arrested by the FBI after Nanette anonymously reports him. The following charges are placed against him:

• Fraud
• Digital human rights abuse
• Embezzlement
• Failure to report an accident

Nanette & The Digital Clones' Plan To Safeguard Themselves Explained

They Hope To Live In A Separate Pocket Universe

Since Nanette and the crew exist as real people inside the game's world and are not controlled by humans from the real world, they face real stakes when they set out to collect credits for their survival. However, after losing a crew member, they soon realize they will all meet their doom if they keep playing by the game's rules. Therefore, they explore the idea of building a whole new universe where they do not have to conform to Infinity's credit system and face other competitive players.

They hope to achieve this by building their own little pocket universe in the cloud storage of the virtual server. To achieve this, they realize they must access the game's source code. Kabir reveals they can only get what they want through the game's "Heart of Infinity." Therefore, they set out on a journey to the massive structure, hoping to find a way to secure themselves in a private universe.

The Heart Of Infinity Explained: Why Infinity Collapses After Bob's Death

The Heart Of Infinity Has A Deceptive Exterior

As Kabir reveals, the Heart of Infinity is a physical manifestation of the game's source code in the virtual world. He deduces that they may be able to manipulate the game and create a new universe for themselves if they visit the game's engine, the Heart of Infinity. This is when Walton's digital clone chimes in and reveals that the Heart of Infinity is not what it seems. He discloses that his human counterpart wanted to find a way to make Robert work endlessly on Infinity.

Since Robert Daly's digital clone, who works in the Heart of Infinity, serves as the game's eternal architect, his death leads to the collapse of the entire system.

Therefore, he cloned him and created a digital version of him that works in the heart of the game without being held back by human limitations. Since Robert Daly's digital clone, who works in the Heart of Infinity, serves as the game's eternal architect, his death leads to the collapse of the entire system. This explains why the game self-destructs and gets wiped out entirely after Nanette kills him.

The Origins Of The DNA Cloner Explained: How Walton & Robert Misused It

The DNA Cloner Was Banned In The Real World

Walton's digital clone also reveals that the DNA cloner that Robert used in season 4 was initially designed for the adult industry. People could use it to create sentient virtual companions modeled after real individuals for personalized "adult experiences." However, due to its moral and ethical implications, the device was banned in the real world. Walton misused the device to clone Robert and make his digital version work endlessly on Infinity. Meanwhile, Robert's human version used it in Black Mirror season 4 to create digital versions of his co-workers and rule them as a twisted god.

How Walton's Digital Clone Survived After Black Mirror Season 4 Episode 1's Ending

He Miraculously Respawned Despite His Season 4 Fate

Toward Black Mirror season 4 episode 1's ending moments, Walton sacrificed himself to ensure the USS Callister ed through the wormhole and escaped Daly's personalized server. Since he died before the ship ed through the wormhole, it was believed that he did not return in the updated game. However, Black Mirror season 7's episode 6 seems to retcon his fate by revealing that even if an atom from his body got carried across the wormhole, he would be able to respawn in the updated Infinity.

"USS Callister" is the only episode in Black Mirror that has received a direct follow-up.

Nanette and her crew believe he may still be out there when they suddenly realize that his room still exists on the ship. Since, according to the game's rules, players usually end up on a new planet after restarting, the crew finds Walton's location by checking which new planet appeared when they emerged through the wormhole. With this, they travel to the planet and meet him again, where the Black Mirror episode creates a hilarious Cast Away parody.

How Nanette Finds Out About Her Digital Clone

Nanette Traces The Untagged Players

After finding complaints about untagged players in the game's chat, Nanette tracks them down and notices that one of them has Nate's voice. She also observes that another untagged player looks a lot like her. She even finds the source of the voice note from season 4's episode 1 that had threatened her to go to Daly's house and steal his DNA samples. This leads her to discover that the voice had been patched through an Infinity build, which confirms that the digital clones sent it to her. With this, she concludes that Daly created clones of every worker in Infinity.

Does USS Callister: Into Infinity Set Up Another Sequel?

There Is Room For Another Story After Black Mirror Season 7, Episode 6

Although everything seems to end well for Nanette and her crew in the Black Mirror season 7 episode, one scene from the closing arc sets up another installment. Before the episode's credits start rolling, the USS Callister crew asks Nanette if she has found a way to separate them from her mind and create a secured cloud server for them. Although Nanette claims to be working on a solution, she seems to be more invested in living her own life in the real world.

This could create a major conflict between Nanette and the crew in a future installment, paving the way for another showdown between the digital clones and a real human. In many ways, Black Mirror's "USS Callister: Into Infinity" seems similar to Severance as it shows how two separate versions of the same person fight for autonomy when the boundaries between them start to blur. This makes it hard not to believe that similar to the Apple TV+ sci-fi TV show, USS Callister has the potential to unfold as a full-fledged series.