Dark Matter season two is arriving soon, and Apple TV’s big Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con gave fans a peek at what to expect. To go with that explosive teaser, the cast and creators took to the stage to lift the lid on the continuing adventures of reluctant multiverse traveler Jason Dessen (Joel Edgerton).
Since season one adapted Blake Crouch’s book pretty closely, the author—who’s also the creator and showrunner of the series—no longer had previously written source material to draw upon. Speaking from the Hall H stage, it sounded like he relished the challenge.
“Season one is based on the book, and we used every available moment and character beat we possibly could because we weren’t sure we would do another season,” Crouch said. “And when it came time to look at that blank page [for season two], it was like an endless corridor of doors, and some of them might be bad; some of them could be awesome. It was our job to figure out how to try to level up what we had done. Imagine your home has been taken away [and] your job has been taken away. You’ve lost all of your friends; you’ve lost your whole world. All you have is your family, and that is where the Dessens begin in season two … The whole season is really about being alone and finding the people to embrace and help you get through life, and of course it’s bigger, it’s badder, it’s more emotional than season one, and I cannot wait for you all to see it.”
At the end of season one, the Dessens—Jason, his wife Daniela (Jennifer Connelly), and their son Charlie (Oakes Fegley)—have finally arrived in the same universe. The Jason variants who used the Box, an invention that enables travel between dimensions, with the intention of stealing the life of “Jason One” have retreated. For now.
“After everything that happened in season one, [they’re trying to] find some sense of normalcy,” Edgerton said. “And in the spirit of the themes of the show, [there’s] the sense that you can’t really go back and have a do-over. You’ve got to acknowledge [and] absorb what’s come before … then there’s a sense of defining what is home, because they’re going to find a place to live, and that is a question of is family home or is a place home, or what is home for you? So that’s kind of where we start.”
Added Connelly, “I think when we first see them again, they’re trying to have a simple life and a quiet life. And something happens pretty quickly that spoils that plan. So then they’re left kind of reeling and trying to find a place where they can rebuild and take stock of who they’ve become because of all of this—and because of the very existence of the Box and what it means. And how can they be together as a couple, how can they be in this marriage if they don’t really even know who they are anymore? So that’s where we meet them.”
Matt Tolmach, an executive producer on Dark Matter, said the Dessens will have to make some difficult decisions as season two progresses.
“I think what happens in season two is they’re faced with every choice,” he said. “What happens when choices are unlimited? Who do you become? The choices you make define you. I remember watching the end of the first season and literally thinking just as an audience member, now what? … Now that you know that you can go anywhere and do anything, who do you become? What is your life? What are the choices you’re going to make now? And that was such a daunting and amazing challenge for the story.”
We’ll find out more about what choices they make when Dark Matter returns August 28 to Apple TV.
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