In today’s episode of Bingeworthy, our TV and streaming podcast host, Mike DeAngelo, returns to the multiverse of “Dark Matter.” The first season finale is now available to stream on Apple TV+. The series is based on the Blake Crouch book of the same name and follows a college professor who is abducted into an alternate universe and has to fight his way back to his old life and real family. The show stars Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Connelly, Alice Braga, Jimmi Simpson, and more (read our review).
Joining Bingeworthy to discuss spoilers of the mind-bending sci-fi thriller (Yes, SPOILER WARNING) is star Joel Edgerton and writer/showrunner Blake Crouch. During the interviews, Edgerton and Crouch finally dove into “Dark Matter” spoilers for the series, but not before Crouch initially discussed the initial intention to make “Dark Matter” into a film instead of a show.
“Initially, I sold it to Sony Features back in 2014 when the book was still being written,” Crouch said. “I had only written about 140 pages, and we took those pages and sold them to Penguin Random House. And somehow, during that process, the pages leaked out, and we started getting all these calls. So I sold it to Sony. There was so much interest, but at that point in time, they said, ‘Oh, this feels like a film.”
Crouch then noted how quickly things spun out when condensing the book into a two-hour film.
“I wrote a version of the script; a couple of other really good screenwriters wrote a script, but we could never really crack it so that you condense it that much. With some things the condensing process makes them better, but for ‘Dark Matter’ it was only hurting it. Killing your darlings is something you’re supposed to be comfortable doing, and a lot of times, that is exactly what you should be doing in the adaptation process, but here we were, killing all the character emotion. We’re killing all these intricate character beats. So we moved it over to Apple after several years of film development & spinning our wheels. I had a real strong sense of how I wanted to lay the show out.”
So, with “Dark Matter” now at Apple, Crouch and his team were off to the races on the series. Instead of condensing, the question became, what could he add?
“I was super, super proud of [the book], but it’s a very tight narrative only told through Jason Dessen’s POV,” Crouch admitted. “And so, part of me that was like, in a perfect world, the book would be a couple hundred pages longer, and you would also have this Daniela/Jason 2 storyline —this sort of paranoid Hitchcockian suspense thread that would complement what Jason and Amanda were doing. So I looked at it as a do-over, a chance to take something I was really proud of and to level it up a bit.”
The additions and changes didn’t stop there. Even star Joel Edgerton suggested a big change for Jason Dessen and his family—a lost twin brother of his son, Charlie.
“I said to Blake one day, ‘I wonder if there’s something big that he doesn’t know,’ and something big that can also sit alongside the big human themes that we’re exploring in the show about regret and remorse,” Edgerton said. “And we started talking about the possibility of the loss of a child, which, to anyone who’s a parent, I think is staring into your greatest fear. Blake got excited because he said it’d be very interesting, particularly if Jason 1 would find a version of his life where [Charlie and Max] both still were alive, and Jason knew even more that he needed to find his exact life because part of his life is also the grief that he’s experienced with his wife. And then it just became too exciting of a prospect. The challenge of weaving that into the show is a bigger thing than just Jason 2 not knowing which color toothbrush he has – that there’s something deeply wounding about the past. And it’s like, Oh, I should know this.”
As the series continued, fans were shown not just one additional version of Jason but dozens, which presented a unique acting challenge for Edgerton.
“I had to constantly remind myself that they’re all the same person to a point, and then really asking yourself how do different experiences and, particularly trauma, shape you into a slightly different demeanor or attitude or view of the world or lightness or heaviness or whatever. And grief obviously is one thing. And in the later episodes, just the pure trauma of the journey and the things that they’ve gone through, and feeling vengeful or slighted by other versions of themselves that they’re willing to then act in a violent or desperate fashion.”
Crouch and the team employed various techniques to pull off having so many versions of Jason in one scene, particularly in the finale.
“In the final episode, I was in a factory jumping around onto like 50 different marks sitting in various positions and then, not to undermine what the visual effects guys pulled off, went into tents and got scanned in a multitude of different ways so that they could add versions of me around,” Edgerton said. “But I had this team of dudes all dressed like me in various fashions, and it was funny because I walked in there, and I was like, ‘that dude looks nothing like me!’ He said, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna put your face on his.’ And the poor guys having to follow me around a room and watch me and try to mimic the way that I walked and the way that I stood and got up from the floor or sat down on the floor there’s just so much to think about. There were days when I was running in a tent and changing like 15 times throughout the day to do all sorts of things. It’s weird because I had such a great time, but if you ask me to do it all again, I’ll be like, ��No!”
So, does that then rule out season 2? Everyone involved seems open but also satisfied with what they’ve accomplished.
“I actually don’t know , but I hope so, Edgerton said. “And I think that, by all reports, the show has done well. It seems to be on the top of the streaming list. So, obviously, people are watching it. And I think that, like any smart executive group, everyone’s looking to see if everyone’s watching it, are they going to watch it all the way through to the end? And if they are, that means that maybe it’s a sign or a clue that they want more, and then they’ll decide. But I do think all the people on the creative side if word came down that they’re keen for more, everybody would be like, ‘Cool!’ We all had a good time together.”
Crouch has a similar feeling of possibility but seems content with having “left it all on the field” for season one.
“I’m not going to confirm [season two of “Dark Matter”],” Crouch added. “Many of my books end with a little bit of an open-ended nature. ‘Upgrade’ is that, ‘Recursion’ is that, ‘Summer Frost’ is that. I don’t like giving definitive ends to things. I like the idea that at the end of a story, you sort of hand the baton over to the reader. And if they want to carry this story on in their head, the platform is there. Also, in terms of season 2 or beyond, we went into this thinking we’ll let the characters and the story and ultimately the audience tell us, ‘Should there be more?”
Bingeworthy is part of The Playlist Podcast Network, which includes The Playlist Podcast, Deep Focus, The Discourse and more. We can be heard on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, and most places where podcasts are found. You can stream the podcast via the embed within the article or click on the lead image at the top page. Be sure to subscribe and drop us a comment or a rating, as we greatly appreciate it. Thank you for listening.
The Playlist Presents – Blake Crouch’s Film, Book, & TV Playlist:
1.) TV: “Severance” (2022-Present) – Created By Dan Erickson
2.) BOOK: “Red Rising” (2014) – Written By Pierce Brown
3.) FILM: “Primer” (2004) – Directed By Shane Carruth
Listen to both spoiler-filled interviews below: