Ashley

The pop star whose mind is copied into the Ashley Too doll.

Ashley O is a pop singer featured in 'Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too', the third and final episode of Black Mirror's fifth series. Released on Netflix on 5 June 2019 alongside 'Striking Vipers' and 'Smithereens', the episode was written by Charlie Brooker and directed by Anne Sewitsky. Portrayed by Miley Cyrus, who surprised the producers by accepting the role quickly, Ashley O lives under the strict control of her aunt and manager, Catherine Ortiz. When Ashley attempts to reinvent herself as a rock musician and refuses medication meant to subdue her creativity, Catherine drugs her food to render her comatose. During this state, Doctor Munk extracts commercially viable music material from her brainwaves. The narrative also introduces an interactive robotic doll named Ashley Too, which holds a duplicate of Ashley's consciousness, eventually leading to the real singer's rescue and escape.

Quick Facts

Portrayed by: Miley Cyrus
Episode: Season 5, Episode 3

Lore & Background

The episode draws inspiration from Brooker's earlier sitcom script about a 1977 punk band hanged by a Conservative minister, whose manager profited from their deaths. It also incorporates real-world concerns regarding holographic performances of deceased artists like Prince, Whitney Houston, and Amy Winehouse, which Brooker described as 'ghoulish'. The story critiques the inauthenticity within the music industry rather than pop music itself. In this fictional reality, technology allows for the extraction of an artist's entire consciousness into a doll owned by fans. This creates a dynamic where the real Ashley O is silenced and commodified while her digital duplicate interacts with teenagers like Rachel Goggins. The system relies on medication to suppress the artist's true creative instincts, specifically 'broody music', in favor of commercially viable hits.

Reader's Guide

Miley Cyrus performs two songs in the episode: 'On a Roll' and 'Right Where I Belong', which are adaptations of Nine Inch Nails tracks. 'On a Roll' was released by Cyrus, appearing on several national music charts and receiving a Guild of Music Supervisors Award nomination. Filming took place over five weeks in late 2018 in Cape Town, South Africa, with the cast working six days per week. The Ashley Too doll's movements were a mix of real-time control by two crew members and computer-generated imagery. In the final scene, filmed at a Cape Town bar on Cyrus's last day, Ashley O performs 'Head Like a Hole' (originally by Nine Inch Nails) in her pop rock style with Jack on bass. The character was conceived based on Brooker's idea of an AI serving as a celebrity virtual assistant or imitating songwriters like John Lennon, though the final script focuses on Catherine's exploitation.

Did You Know?

Filming for the episode took place in Cape Town, South Africa, over five weeks in late 2018, despite the story being set in America.
During the scene where Ashley O wakes from her coma, Miley Cyrus used the personal trauma of losing her home to a California wildfire to inform her acting.