This article contains spoilers for the Black Mirror episode “USS Callister: Into Infinity.” A lot has happened since the classic Black Mirror episode “USS Callister” first premiered on Netflix in late 2017. Charlie Brooker’s beloved sci-fi anthology has churned out three fresh seasons of technodystopia (plus a choose-your-own-adventure movie). The Star Trek franchise has debuted five new series. And then there was the matter of that global pandemic. Perhaps the biggest change since the USS Callister flew off into server space unknown in 2017, however, is the ascendent status of its Captain Nanette Cole, played by Cristin Milioti. First introduced to most audiences as the titular mother in How I Met Your Mother, Milioti has always been a welcome presence on television. Since her time aboard the Callister though, Milioti’s genre TV star has really begun to soar. The New Jersey-born actress unlocked another level for the Apple TV+ series Mythic Quest in a devastating standalone installment “A Dark Quiet Death,” out-Black Mirror’ed Black Mirror itself in HBO Max’s Made for Love,* and entered into the canon of all-time great Batman villains as Sofia Falcone on Max’s The Penguin. *Which, much to Warner Bros. Discovery’s deep shame, is longer available to stream on HBO Max’s successor “Max” or anywhere else for that matter. As Milioti made a name for herself in pop culture, she never lost sight of a possible return to Black Mirror. Just before “USS Callister: Into Infinity” premiered, Milioti discussed the journey back with Den of Geek and other outlets at a roundtable interview. “We started having conversations about a sequel very soon after the first episode aired,” she says. “It was going to be a series at one point. Then it was a completely different movie. I think you get used to, in this business, lowering your expectations so that you don’t get your heart broken. Making anything is impossible and a miracle – like anything that is made at all, let alone made well, is a miracle.” USS Callister: Into Infinity truly puts Milioti and her crew through the wringer once again. After escaping the clutches of game creator Robert Daly (Jesse Plemons), the USS Callister team attempts to end their meager existence as pirates and make it to the Heart of Infinity to carve out a personal paradise. To do so, however, the digital Nanette must collaborate with an unusual partner: herself. “I don’t know what can prepare you for arguing with yourself,” Milioti says. “Although, as I’m saying that, I’m realizing this is the second time I’ve been on a show where I fight myself. I don’t think anything ever fully like prepares you for it, because it’s different each time. I’ve been very blessed to get to work on these things. Penguin was like this too, where I kind of couldn’t believe in how many different things I got to explore and play.” While the original USS Callister was largely a Star Trek pastiche thanks to Robert Daly’s love of fictional Trek-esque series Space Fleet, its sequel leans more into satire of open world gaming culture, complete with a cranky user base, microtransactions, and frequent glitches. To better prepare for the experience, Milioti bypassed the gaming world entirely and went straight to the source. “I actually delved more into coding than I did games because Nanette loves coding and is in awe of Daly’s ability to design a game. I wanted to know more about all the problem solving, and how that would inform this person. I haven’t tried to code but I watched a lot of material on it and read about it. It seems very cool, like a constant Tetris.” Well there you have it. Even The Penguin‘s Sofia Falcone is learning to code. That’s a recession indicator if we’ve ever seen one. Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! All six episodes of Black Mirror season 7 are available to stream on Netflix now.