The cast and creator of the Apple TV series preview a second season where identity, redemption and family take center stage.
In Blake Crouch’s acclaimed 2016 novel Dark Matter,the author introduced the box— a structure that people used to travel to alternate universes. There, they might discover how different life choices had turned them into remarkably different people. They might find a utopian paradise. Or they might stumble upon a world decimated by plague, ravaged by freezing temperatures or inhabited by giant killer wasps. Everyone who read the book had their own idea of what the box looked like.
When Crouch adapted his book and served as creator, executive producer, writer and showrunner on the 2024 TV series Dark Matter,viewers got an answer: The box was a large, black cube that seemed to be made of reflective metal. It was sleek but formidable, minimalist but massive. And it lived on a Chicago soundstage, where the Apple TV series filmed its second season, premiering August 28.
On most sets, the awe and magic evaporate once it becomes clear that walls are just facades and props are just ordinary objects. But on a barren stage, the box looks no less remarkable than it does on screen — towering and terrifying. In the television world of Dark Matter,characters can’t stay away from the box, constantly drawn back to it despite the dangers. Which is good news for fans of the show, as there are infinite possibilities for Crouch to explore in a new season.
Critics and audiences received the freshman season well, a relief to the author. “I wrote the book, but I’m also a fan of the book,” Crouch says. “And the marching orders I gave myself were that we must preserve the spirit of the book, must preserve the science, but tell a more mature story about the characters and take it in some new and exciting directions.”
That first year focused on everyman Jason Dessen, a college professor played by Joel Edgerton (The Underground Railroad) who’s married to Daniela (Jennifer Connelly, Snowpiercer) and father to teenage Charlie (Oakes Fegley, The Fabelmans). Jason is put into the box against his wishes by its creator, an alternate-universe Jason (referred to as Jason 2) who regrets having left his own world’s Daniela. Most of the season revolved around Jason’s attempts to get back home from Jason 2’s world, aided by Jason 2’s lover Amanda (Alice Braga, Man on Fire), who helped create the box. As the pair visit different universes in search of the right one, Daniela and Charlie begin to suspect all is not right with the Jason in their home — and Jason 2 goes to desperate lengths to hide his secret.
The first season concluded where the book ends: Jason is reunited with his family and steps back into the box to find a new world they can all inhabit together. It was a satisfying conclusion, but executive producer Matt Tolmach admits he had always thought about continuing the story. A former copresident of production at Sony Pictures, Tolmach is speculated to be one of the inspirations for Seth Rogen’s character in The Studio, and he certainly shares that character’s passion for his projects. His enthusiasm for this story began when he read Dark Matteras a 150-page partial manuscript. “I originally planned to produce it as a film before realizing the limitations we wouldn’thave with a series,” he says.
It was during postproduction on season one that Crouch began to think seriously about future stories. He was joined by his personal and creative partner, Jacquelyn Ben-Zekry, who has been with the story almost as long as Crouch, having served as the book’s editor. But she says her real involvement with the show started in preproduction when “Blake needed to be in five places at once,” and she began answering questions and attending meetings on his behalf.
When asked to help with one scene of a script, she gave in to “a fit of creative overload” and wrote 30 pages. “I saw not just that scene, but how to write the rest of the script in a way that solved five different problems we were having across the second half of the season,” she recalls. She assumed Crouch would use it as a jumping-off point, but instead he came home with her name on the full script — which was how she officially became a writer on the show. A producer on season one, Ben-Zekry has been upped to executive producer this season.
“Watching those episodes while editing, we got really excited about what a second season might look like,” Crouch says. “There was also a lot of fear, because we didn’t have the safety net of a book.”
There was also a time constraint; within a month of wrapping season one in November 2023, Sony Television asked Crouch what a second season might look like. A month later, Apple TV expressed interest, so Crouch and Ben-Zekry set to work on the scripts; the second season was announced in August 2024. That’s one of the reasons they eschewed a traditional writers’ room and penned all the scripts themselves. “It was a heavy lift,” Crouch says. “But it would have taken us months and months for people to pitch and us to gather a room, and we felt we had to fly.”
In some ways, he was grateful for the condensed schedule. “It was wild, but it made us not be precious,” Crouch says. “You really have to start throwing stuff at the wall, seeing what sticks and what resonates with you. It pushed us in some interesting ways.”
Edgerton and Connelly, who also serve as executive producers, were thrilled to revisit the Dessens. “I had no idea where they would go,” Connelly says. “But I was excited to work with [those characters] and Joel again.” Edgerton was happy to leave the plotting up to the writers. “I don’t do well with infinite choice,” he says. “If you’re my stylist, just give me two sweaters to pick from. Don’t take me to a warehouse of sweaters and ask me to decide. The idea of a writers’ room is like walking into a warehouse of sweaters.”
Soon, Crouch and Ben-Zekry began to reveal where things were going, and Connelly was particularly thrilled to see that the original Jason and Daniela would spend more time together. “Those characters actually have very few scenes together in season one,” she notes. “I was excited to explore the ramifications of these events on a couple, exploring a marriage through these trials.”
Edgerton adds, “Season one had a straightforward plot of Jason 1 versus Jason 2. But there were so many possibilities with all the other characters and universes that I thought we got into some really interesting, complicated territory.”
Those other characters include people who willingly go into the box, like Jason 2’s power-hungry cohort Leighton (Dayo Okeniyi,See), who pursues Jason and Amanda. There’s also Jason’s old friend Ryan (Jimmi Simpson, Pachinko), whom Jason 2 banishes to an alternate world to cover his own tracks. And then there are the other Jasons — alternate versions of the first Jason who were created by each decision he made inside the box. In season one, these dozens of Jasons all share Jason 1’s memories and experiences, and all have the same goal — to get back to their families.
The story of the other Jasons, left behind when Daniela chooses one at the end of the first season, makes up a good part of the new season. “We wondered what would happen to these people who went through hell and didn’t get their family in the end,” Crouch says. “Let’s follow them and see how resilient — or not — they are.”
Ben-Zekry adds, “We wanted season two to be bigger, but also more intimate.” So, while the story is fantastical, it’s still about the characters. “Season one, the characters don’t know they are in a sci-fi show, so it’s all about how the average person responds to these situations and how to keep it grounded,” she says. “Season two, most characters know they are dealing with some out-of-this-world stuff. It requires a different approach.”
For Edgerton, the new season was about “atonement and aftermath” and “taking a real look at the consequences of what you put out in the world and the things you create.” That included embodying several new Jasons, sometimes playing up to three different versions in a day. It also meant a deeper dive into Jason 2 as he grapples with the damage he’s caused. “He was painted quite villainous in the book, and we tried to give him motivations and an engine of guilt that you see by the end of season one — just to show that no one is purely good or evil,” Edgerton explains. “So, we see him on a quest of redemption, while also seeing how Jason could be corrupted by power and technology.”
Edgerton says he understands the draw of great advancements, but also the dangers. “We’re brilliant enough to create things that change the fabric of our society without really knowing what the ramifications are, and Dark Matterfelt like a way to examine those things through entertainment,” he says. He believes this theme will always be timeless — and timely. For example, while shooting, the issue of artificial intelligence became even more hotly debated. “AI has become a big moral and ethical conundrum that’s being forced into our lives, and I think the box is sort of a parallel to these developments, where you pat yourself on the back, but what happens next?”
Another central motif of the new season is identity — literally and figuratively, as Crouch wanted to look at how the Dessen family would function in a new world, getting IDs and money. “I like a grounded approach to a crazy idea, and these were all questions we had,” he says. “We wanted to see them working that out as a family.” The new season also addresses emotional fallout, particularly how Daniela deals with having been deceived by a man who wasn’t her husband and learns about her alternate lives. “Daniela has her own trauma and her own feelings about how her life played out,” Connelly says. “We learn a lot more about what she’s experienced in her life and what she thinks about her own trajectory. I thought it was a really interesting story to tell.”
While producers are tight-lipped on what to expect from the new season, it can be revealed that there will be stand-alone episodes where the entire story follows one character’s journey. For example, Margo Martindale guest stars as a woman with no connection to the Dessens who nevertheless finds her life changed by the box. Crouch and Ben-Zekry are huge fans of the Emmy-winning actress (Justified, The Americans); they even sometimes refer to her as “character actress Margo Martindale,” the tongue-in-cheek title given to her fictionalized self on Netflix’s animated series BoJack Horseman.
Also new to the cast is Chris Diamantopoulos (The Sticky) as a government official looking into the sudden appearance of several Jasons in his world. Crouch says what started “as kind of a joke about having a crossover between Dark Matterand a Dick Wolf detective show,” raised legitimate questions about what happens in the original universe after several Jasons have been left dead. Edgerton worked with Diamantopoulos on 2023 feature The Boys in the Boatand considers himself not just a friend, but a fan. “He is so amazing and so versatile,” the actor says. Crouch calls him “kind of a system breaker. He comes in with this new energy and just blows our minds.”
Because of the new worlds season one introduced, many returning cast members get to join Edgerton in the challenge of playing multiple iterations. And because these characters seem entangled in every world, there are new pairings — such as Ryan and Amanda running into each other in their new universe, which was teased at the end of season one. “The book leaves Amanda’s future uncertain after she parts ways with Jason,” Tolmach says. “As a fan of the book and a fan of Amanda, I always wanted more.”
It’s a credit to the ensemble that any combination of characters makes a compelling story on screen. “I once asked a TV executive what makes great television,” Crouch says. “And he said it’s when it doesn’t matter who you put together, it just works. If you can find a cast like that, with actors who have that chemistry no matter who’s sharing a scene, you’re on your way.”
As for continuing the adventure, Crouch doesn’t hesitate to say he’d be up for one more season. “Once we thought about having a second season, we realized the purest story is a three-season arc,” he says. “So yeah, we’d love to tell it, if given the chance.”
Dark Matter is executive-produced by creator Blake Crouch along with Matt Tolmach, Richard Lederer, Jacquelyn Ben-Zekry, Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Connelly. The series is produced for Apple TV by Sony Pictures Television.
Dark Matteris streaming now on Apple TV.
