Black Mirror is a TV show that really benefits from the element of surprise: when a new season or standalone episode launches, we never quite know where writer-creator Charlie Brooker is going to take us.

And because Brooker and Netflix like to keep everything Black Mirror under wraps, it's rare to hear anything at all about new episodes while they're actually being made. However, today brings news that two talented young actors have been cast in the upcoming fifth season.

Anthony Mackie (pictured), known for playing Falcon in the Avengers movies, as well for appearances in The Hurt Locker and The Fifth Estate, has been cast in undisclosed role.

Also cast in an unknown role, according to Deadline, is Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, the actor who played the villainous Black Manta in Aquaman and acrobat W.D. Wheeler in The Greatest Showman.

And... that's about it. We don't know whether Mackie and Abdul-Mateen are even appearing in the same episode as one other. The only other performer linked to season five is Miley Cyrus, who hinted in December that she'd joined the cast.

Brooker's show returned in December with Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, an especially innovative standalone episode in which viewers were invited to decade the fate of the characters in the style of a choose-your-own-adventure story.

Discussing season five in January, Brooker told Radio Times: “It’s all imminent-ish. It’ll be out soon. Doing Bandersnatch was like doing several episodes at once, so in one respect the other season five episodes are more straightforward, though they all come with their own challenges.”

Consider our appetites whetted!

Are you excited for season five of Black Mirror?