‘Dark Matter’ Is Returning For Season 2 on Apple TV+

Apple TV+ is eager to continue exploring the possibilities of Dark Matter. The hit sci-fi series based on the acclaimed novel by bestselling author and showrunner Blake Crouch has been renewed for a second season on the streaming service, with Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Connelly set to return for another go-around as Jason and Daniela. The news comes just over a month after the series finale aired in June and comes on the back of strong reviews from critics and audiences alike. It will hope to answer plenty of lingering questions left by the finale as Crouch looks to expand beyond the source material.

Dark Matter follows Jason Dessen, a physicist and family man from Chicago, who, one night while walking home in the Windy City, is thrust into an alternate reality where his life played out differently due to the choices he made. Panic sets in as he fights desperately to make his way back home through a labyrinth of lives he could have lived, confronting every aspect of himself in the process. Time is of the essence as he tries to save his family before his life is taken over by another, more sinister Jason entirely. Edgerton and Connelly are joined by a strong supporting cast in the mind-bending adventure, including Alice Braga, Jimmi Simpson, Dayo Okeniyi, and Oakes Fegley.

Season 1 adapts all the material from Crouch’s original novel, leaving the family in an ambiguous situation regarding where they end up. Collider’s Steve Weintraub asked the creator himself, along with executive producer Matt Tolmach, about where things stand and they assured that, at least with Jason, “Our intention is that this is the guy we started with, and this is the guy we’re ending with.” Although the right Jason may be in the right spot, it’s left up to the audience to decide where the family altogether lands at the end of the season. Although he was always open to continuing the story in some way, Crouch designed the show to be very much like the book where everyone lands in another world that was left entirely up to interpretation, which creates an interesting situation for how Season 2 will proceed:

“I never let myself contemplate what that world was. To me, the world represented a new start, it represented hope. I never wanted to know for myself, and I do this with a lot of my books. A lot of my books have, I wouldn’t call them fully open-ended endings, but they leave a lot of room for the reader to sort of take the ball and run with it. I did the same thing in
Recursion
. I love that when you get to the end, I hand the ball to the reader, or to the audience in the case of the show, and say, ‘Now
you
imagine what’s next.'”

Where Could Season 2 of ‘Dark Matter’ Go Next?

Despite the ambiguity, Crouch does have some idea of what a second season could explore. Ryan (Simpson) and Amanda’s (Braga) fate would be one thread to pull after the finale brought them back together with no real explanation of how they found each other. Crouch played coy when asked about them and Simpson, in a separate interview, further hinted that they could be a focus in Season 2, saying, “I’m not even going to talk about that. That story is currently being created, so that’s just a little too much advanced info.” However, Edgerton spoke to the endless possibilities as one of the benefits of continuing Dark Matter. With the Dessens, Leighton (Okeniyi), multiple Ryans, and Amanda, there’s no shortage of ways Crouch and company could build out their sci-fi universe and explore each unique character’s fate.

The great thing is, now that you’ve seen the show, once you get deeper into it you get invested in all these different people and how they relate to each other, but also how they relate to this technology, how each of them may use or be repelled by it. You’re left in a place where you start to wonder, ‘Oh, where does Leighton go? Where does Amanda go? Where do the Dessens go? What happens to the various versions of Ryan’s?’ So, [there’s] this possibility that the show could be any number of things, but also continue a deeper investment in all of these people.”

All episodes of Dark Matter Season 1 are now streaming on Apple TV+. Stay tuned here at Collider for more on Season 2 when it comes out.​​​​​​​

Dark Matter (2024)

A man is abducted into an alternate version of his life. Amid the mind-bending landscape of lives he could’ve lived, he embarks on a harrowing journey to get back to his true family and save them from a most terrifying foe: himself.

Release Date

May 8, 2024

Main Genre

Sci-Fi

Seasons

1

Creator(s)

Blake Crouch

Writers

Blake Crouch

Directors

Jakob Verbruggen

Expand

Watch on Apple TV+