The Big Picture

Collider’s Steve Weintraub talks with
Dark Matter
costars Joel Edgerton and Alice Braga.
Edgerton and Braga play Jason Dessen and Amanda Lucas in the adaptation series of creator and showrunner Blake Crouch’s sci-fi novel.
During this interview they discuss the Season 1 ending, their own theories, surprises for book fans, and discuss the potential focus of Season 2.

[Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Dark Matter Season 1]Maybe in an alternate reality there are more Dark Matter episodes, but for our world, Season 1 of the epic Apple TV+ sci-fi series has come to a close. Now that all nine episodes are available to stream, the show’s stars, Joel Edgerton (The Gift) and Alice Braga (Queen of the South), join Collider’s Steve Weintraub to look back on their characters’ journeys throughout this season, the choices they made, and where they end up. As we lean into Season 2, they also chat about how fans of author and showrunner Blake Crouch’s book may still have some surprises in store.

Dark Matter Season 1 introduced viewers to the characters of Crouch’s many worlds, and for fans of the novel, it brought them to life with a stacked cast including Oscar-winner Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind), Jimmi Simpson (Westworld), Dayo Okeniyi (See), and Oakes Fegley (The Fabelmans). We explored different realities with Jason Dessen (Edgerton) and Amanda Lucas (Braga) as they boldly fought to find Jason’s original Earth to reunite with his family. In the end, Jason does find his way home (or so we’re led to believe), while Amanda chooses to part ways and make the best of the life she has.

As any good season finale does, Dark Matter leaves us with unanswered questions and an appetite for what’s to come. In this interview, Edgerton and Braga dissect their characters’ decisions, theorize with us on who really walked through that door in the end, and tease what the focus of Season 2 will be. In addition to this and what surprises lay in store for book fans, they share what they’d do if they had access to the box, and Edgerton talks about joining the “greatest show on earth,” Bluey.

You can watch the conversation in the video above or read the full transcript below.

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

What Does the End of ‘Dark Matter’ Season 1 Mean?
“It starts to become a bit of a Pandora’s box.”

COLLIDER: What do you think about the fact that the Jason that ends up with his family at the end, that who the series is saying is the original Jason might not be the Jason that left and that also might not be the actual family that he left on the journey, because there could be slightly altered versions?

JOEL EDGERTON: I’m glad you asked the question because it leads you to think. The cool idea about a show like this, and any speculative science fiction or science fiction, is it allows smart members of an audience to have their own suppositions about what’s possible, especially in a thing that’s about alternate realities. It starts to become a bit of a Pandora’s box that can sort of open and spill out in any which way. And you’re right, I mean, this possibility that the Jason that wins at the end of the day, it’s like, “Is he really?”

ALICE BRAGA: “Is that him?”

EDGERTON: “Is it really, really, really him?” Or is it, “Yes, it’s really him, but there’s another ‘really, really him’?” [Laughs] But the family question is a good one.

The fact is, it could be the Jason that left, like, minus one decision or one thing, or it’s the earth but just slightly different. But you can’t know.

EDGERTON: Yeah, he could finally go back and rejoice and then look in the living room and go, “Hold on a second. That’s not our knives and forks. I’m sorry, darling, I’m gonna have to leave.”

BRAGA: [Laughs] “I’m sorry, that’s not me.”

“It’s not just the telling of the book.”
Image via Apple TV+

For both of you, what were your thoughts on the ending of the series and where each of your characters ends up?

EDGERTON: One thing I will say for anyone who’s a fan of the book is there are quite a few things in there that are new. It’s not just the telling of the book. For the most part, it is the book.

BRAGA: The essence of it is right there.

EDGERTON: Yeah, but there are extra surprises for each character. What I loved about the ending between Jason 1 and Jason 2, for example, is there’s a difference between just full-out, out-and-out war and battle between the two versions, but getting to a deeper place of empathy, of understanding and forgiveness, or remorse and regret, because the show is so much about regret. And for Jason, too, to at least show some sense of having made his own poor choices, I think, is good.

BRAGA: An acceptance of choices and life.

EDGERTON: But the possibility that they go off and we don’t know where they’re going to go to is obviously setting us up for what happens next.

BRAGA: I think for Amanda, it’s interesting because she goes on a journey to save Jason from what’s going on in that world and then finds herself completely lost in the maze of the possibilities of lives and different choices that she could have made in life. She doesn’t feel that she has anywhere to go back to, but she’s in the transformation of who she wants to be. So, it was interesting because, very much like in the book, she is on that journey. It’s different from the book. Blake created new nuances between this relationship between Jason and her that, in a way, affect her path or who she loves, and how she’s evolved in her relationship and in her personal life.

So, I think where she ends up is a lot about acceptance. She says that to Jason when she’s saying goodbye to him — since we’re giving a little bit of spoilers. She says to him, basically, “We need to make our life as great as it can be. I want to stay here, and I’m going to make my life great here.” It is an acceptance of, “Yes, it could be this or that, but there’s no perfect life, and I should make this one the best it can be.” I think it’s interesting to see where she comes from when we first start seeing her on the show, that through the journey and through the admiration for this person that she’s being with, how that changed her and how she’s making decisions, like, “Okay, I want to take care of myself and I want to be happy. I want to find a new path in this world.” So, that’s kind of how I see her, and I think the show talks a lot about that, about acceptance and also about empathy.

Will ‘Dark Matter’ Season 2 Answer Our Questions About Ryan?
Image via Apple TV+

How does Ryan find her at that restaurant? I asked Blake, and I got the vibe that if the show were to continue, say, another season, that could be what the show is about.

BRAGA: I would love that. I would take it. [Laughs] I love him.

EDGERTON: 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.

BRAGA: It’s interesting because Jason 1, when he’s missing his wife, goes to see his different versions. Like, in one moment, he goes and tries to check it out just because he misses her, and he loves her so much. It’s the same thing in different worlds — you can see different versions of each one of us. So, it’s interesting that it could be a different Jason, a different [Amanda]. It’s endless.

100%. I am curious how Ryan finds your character at that restaurant because I think I realized that that’s the thing that Blake wants to possibly pursue. That’s the only thing he wouldn’t really get into, and I’m like, “Oh, this is it. This is what he’s thinking about.”

EDGERTON: Either he doesn’t know the answer [laughs], or he’s keeping it close to his chest.

No, I really find that that’s the thing he wants to pursue.

Keeping Up With ‘Dark Matter’s Alternate Realities
Image via Apple TV+

This is a really geeky, stupid question, but here we go. You visit a few different worlds, and we never see you paying for anything. When you’re in these alt worlds, how are you paying for things?

BRAGA: [Laughs] We asked that question. But we did have some money in that bag.

EDGERTON: Yeah, we have some money in the bag.

BRAGA: We have a little bit of money in the bag. A little bit. Joel was like, “Why didn’t we think about sleeping in a hotel before this episode?” And I was like, “That’s a good question.”

EDGERTON: Oh, man. The amount of questions you ask once you open it up. The Pandora’s box is a good analogy. You start asking questions about the logic of all sorts of things — about money and different kinds of money and how money would be different.

BRAGA: From one place to the other. How the economy would have changed from one choice of a president or of a minister to whatever happened in the world.

There’s that shot in Episode 8 or 9 where Jennifer Connelly’s character is in the vault and she’s looking at John F. Kennedy money and the $2,000 bill. This is all alt money, and I was like, “Oh, that’s really cool.”

EDGERTON: Yeah, and [I point out to Leighton] at some point that the idea of going into an alternate reality and, say, doing a bank heist and then bringing the money back is a bad idea because the serial numbers are all different from world to world. One thing I remember thinking when I went into the show is just how elastic Blake’s brain has to be to get into this. Once you create a conceit of moving across alternate realities, it’s just thinking about the best versions of the show relating to character and theme, but also just how many different possibilities there are of the collision of characters, the difference of worlds, and what do you want to reduce it to in order that you tell the story that you wanna tell, which is really, at the core of it, about human emotion and human needs and emotions and feelings of past, present tense, and future sense of self and where you are in the world and regret and all these things, rather than just about the science explosion of special effects.

BRAGA: Which is why it’s so special, Blake’s work, I think. He brings that in his books as a science fiction writer. You’re a geek; I love geeks. That’s why I love the question. But truly, we’ve been talking about how much this is a very different science fiction show from others because you really focus on human connections, human emotions, and feelings that we all go through that are very common to humanity, which is, “What if? What if I’ve done that? What if I’ve done this?” It talks a lot about regret and about thinking there are no right or wrong choices. They are all choices and there are multiple choices, and how can we pursue them and accept them and grow from them?

The whole thing with the corridor is really interesting because the whole thing with the door being connected to your emotions is a beautiful metaphor. If you think about it, it’s how we face situations in life. How you present yourself emotionally to that situation really changes your experience through it. If you come with a negative point of view, maybe that experience is not going to be as beautiful as it could have been if you’d come in with a different mindset for that thing. Do you know what I mean? So, I think it touches a little bit on that. So the science fiction of it is CGI; it has all of those worlds that we go through, but at the same time, it touches all of us in a very specific human way.

Joel Edgerton Dubs ‘Bluey’ “The Greatest Show on Earth”
Wonder what happens in Bluey’s alternate worlds…?

I’m gonna ask probably the most important question of this interview now, and it’s for Joel. Joel, let’s talk about how you ended up voicing a policeman on Bluey.

EDGERTON: [Laughs] By the way, I recorded that before I became a dad, not knowing that now my children, who my partner and I gave them names that are on their birth certificates, but now 50% of the time I have to refer to my kids as Bingo and Bluey, who are the two puppies, the two kids at the center of Bluey.

BRAGA: He has beautiful twins.

EDGERTON: I’m a massive fan of the show, and I just happened to get asked about doing it, and I just said yes immediately, and I went into a studio. Now that it’s come out, it was weirdly one of the most nervous releases of anything, even though it’s one scene, and it’s just my voice.

BRAGA: I wanna see that!

EDGERTON: I’m really nervous about what my kids are gonna think about it and what everybody thinks about it. And I’m jealous of other actors who have been on Bluey for months or years. It’s the greatest show on Earth.And what a way to make a father feel insecure, because Bluey’s dad is like the greatest dad ever — on television, in any format, in cartoon or real life. He’s the dad that you just go, “Come on, man, you gotta go to work at some point. You can’t just play with your kids all the time because now I’m under pressure here.”

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This is a fun question for both of you. If this device actually existed, if you could really go in knowing that you might not ever come home again but you could experience possibly insane wonder on another version of Earth, would you take the journey or would you not?

EDGERTON: No, I would not.

BRAGA: I don’t think I would abandon my life to not be able to come back just to wonder for something, for an idea of something. I don’t know. What do you think?

EDGERTON: I’m so risk-averse now that I have kids. I wouldn’t go in the box because if I knew I wouldn’t see them again, I would fucking die.

But you might still be able to, just like this show. You might still be able to come back.

BRAGA: And go through hell! [Laughs]

EDGERTON: But the word in that sentence I don’t love is the word “might.” You’re gonna go into this small light aircraft and you might be alright. You’d be like, “Wait, did you say I might be alright?”

BRAGA: I mean, if you can come back, like, “Oh, you can visit and then come back,” then it’s a different story. But if you cannot come back… Do you know what I mean?

EDGERTON: I’ll tell you what I would love to do, though, is to get a time machine and just decide that the first thing I would do is go back and see all of these amazing concerts that I was never alive for.

BRAGA: Oh my god.

EDGERTON: Imagine that.

BRAGA: All the musicians and the actors.

EDGERTON: All the things that you’ve just gotta see — Prince and Bob Dylan. Maybe just decide, like, “I’m just gonna go to all of their first concerts, no matter how small and dingy they were,” and use a time machine for that. I’d do that.

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Freddie Mercury is the one I would go see.

BRAGA: Queen, absolutely. That would be amazing.

EDGERTON: Janis Joplin.

BRAGA: Jimi Hendrix.

EDGERTON: Could you imagine? Boyz II Men? [Laughs]

All nine episodes of Dark Matter Season 1 are available to stream on Apple TV+.

Watch on Apple TV