When using VoiceOver, it is not possible to dismiss the player controls in the TV app

Enable VoiceOver.
Open the TV app and play a show.
Choose a show from Apple TV+ to ensure you stay in the native player.
If no player controls are on screen, the entire screen will simply be identified as “Video” by VoiceOver. You can double tap to bring up the player controls.
When the player controls are on screen, there is no longer a button or area that VoiceOver can focus on and double tap to dismiss the controls. Previously, blank space around the controls acted as a dismiss controls button.
Being unable to dismiss the controls may not seem relevant to totally blind users, but for many of us who have limited sight, it is an issue.