USS Callister: What Happened to Shania? Is She Dead?

The seventh season of Netflix’s ‘Black Mirror‘ includes a sequel episode of the episode ‘USS Callister’ from Season 4. ‘USS Callister: Into Infinity’ brings back almost the entire cast of the original episode, expanding the universe of the game called Infinity, created by Robert Daly, who also trapped people using their DNA into his own pocket universe inside the game. Only one cast member is missing in the sequel: Michaela Coel, who plays Shania in the original episode. She is missing from the game as well as from the real world, and the show makes up for it by giving us an insight into her story through other characters. SPOILERS AHEAD.

The Real Shania is Pretty Much Alive

In ‘USS Callister,’ there are two versions of the characters. The first is them in the real world, and the other is their clone in Robert Daly’s personal universe of USS Callister. He created the clones by stealing the DNA of his employees without their consent and knowledge. So, in the real world, Nanette and Shania have no idea that there is a version of them trapped in Daly’s virtual world. In the sequel episode, the real-world Shania is missing, but it is not because she is dead. While no one mentions what happened to her, from the state of the office, we can say that she quit. Since Robert Daly’s death, Infinity has become incredibly popular, but with all the money coming in, Walton has become even more insufferable. He is so bad that Kabir Dudani quits in a rage.

One can expect a similar thing to have happened to Shania, who quit because either she couldn’t stand her boss anymore or because she felt stunted there, like Packer, who is still an intern after eighteen months at the company with no scope of any change in his standing. Meanwhile, inside Infinity, her fate is much bleaker. In the original episode, Daly changes her into a monster after she tries to protect Nanette from his wrath. In the end, when the crew makes it through the wormhole, the entire ship is reset, which means that Shania comes back to her human form and is not in monster form anymore. She is ecstatic to start the new chapter, but it doesn’t last long.

The Clone Shania Meets a Terrible End

Inside Daly’s bubble universe, the crew only had him to worry about. But out in Infinity, there are millions of players, all of whom want to kill them. To keep up with their defense and survive the murderous players, the crew has to collect credits, which they can only get from players. So, they track down the weak ones, attack them, get the credits, and leave. The catch here is that the players cannot be physically hurt. If they are hurt, they simply exit the game and can resume it from the same point. However, if one of the crew members gets hurt, it is a life-or-death situation for them. They can bleed and sustain fatal wounds and die of them. And the same happens to Shania.

According to Nanette, they were on one of their missions to get credits from players when one of them blasted her away. The player thought it was just a part of the game, but the clone Shania really did blow up. Tragically, her death happened merely two weeks before the events of ‘Into Infinity,’ which ends with the crew entering a different form of reality. The trauma of her death reverberates with the crew, who are still trying to process the loss while also wondering whether they are headed towards the same fate as her. This desperation is visible on their faces at the beginning of the episode, but by the end, they succeed in averting the tragedy that befell Shania.