Apple TV’s 9-Part Multiverse Thriller Gets Even Better Ahead Of Season 2

While Apple TV’s twisty multiverse thriller was already pretty great in its first outing, the show’s upcoming sophomore season can truly take advantage of its wild premise. The multiverse is pretty well-trodden territory at this stage, and not just because an entire Phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe was spent exploring the concept. Between A24’s Oscar winner Everything Everywhere All At Once, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and Deadpool & Wolverine, there is no shortage of cinematic explorations of shifting parallel realities.

However, even though the endlessly influential cult classic Lost hinted at this high concept decades before the term multiverse even entered the mainstream parlance, few TV shows have engaged with the premise in depth. Sci-fi comedies like Rick & Morty, Futurama, or Hyperdrive might toy with multiverse-themed outings, but it is rare to see a sci-fi thriller whose plot is devoted to exploring this premise, especially in comparison to the deluge of space exploration shows like the Star Trek franchise.

One series that effectively bucked this trend was Apple TV’s underrated thriller Dark Matter, an adaptation of author Blake Crouch’s 2016 novel of the same name. Dark Matter’s season 1 plot saw Joel Edgerton’s physicist Jason abducted by a version of himself from another reality, prompting a twisty journey wherein he struggled to return to his own reality before this doppelgänger could replace him. Of course, nothing is as simple as it seems, and Jason soon realizes that he is more like his alternate self than he thought by season 1’s ending.

Apple TV’s Dark Matter Has New Cast Members And Storylines For Season 2

The twist ending of Dark Matter season 1 changed the series entirely, as the show is now no longer following the book and thus free to take its plot anywhere. With a stacked supporting cast including Jennifer Connelly, Alice Braga, Jimmi Simpson, and Dayo Okeniyi, Dark Matter was already an exciting series before this big change, with an impressive Rotten Tomatoes critical score of 81%.

However, the show’s decision to continue beyond the book’s ending is particularly daring, while the fact that Crouch himself is still involved with the writing of the series ensures that Dark Matter season 2’s plot won’t veer too far away from his original vision. Appropriately enough for the show’s multiverse themes, the series now offers Crouch a chance to tell the same story with a different ending in a new medium, offering fans a new spin on Jason’s fate.

Dark Matter’s Second Season Has Limitless Potential

If Dark Matter season 2 handles this change well, the possibilities are endless for the series. While space shows like Star Trek: The Next Generation always had more planets to visit and aliens to encounter, the multiverse is uniquely fertile territory for TV writers. This is exactly why The Big Bang Theory’s third spinoff, Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, is an ambitious sci-fi comedy that sends its title character on a journey across various alternate realities.

Actor	Dark Matter Role
Joel Edgerton	Jason Dessen
Jennifer Connelly	Daniela
Alice Braga	Amanda
Jimmi Simpson	Ryan
Oakes Fegley	Charlie Dessen
Dayo Okeniyi	Leighton
Amanda Brugel	Blaire

The multiverse concept allows shows like Dark Matter to explore not just other worlds, but specifically worlds that mirror the show’s original reality save for some pivotal changes. It is this unique premise that makes the show’s potential so boundless, since the Crouch adaptation can contrast its protagonists with their various alternate universe selves. This requires some ambitious storytelling and a pretty big budget, but luckily, Dark Matter has the right streaming home to accommodate this.

Even outside of Dark Matter, Apple TV is rapidly establishing itself as the go-to home for high-concept, big-budget sci-fi streaming shows. The cult phenomenon Silo, the corporate satire Severance, and the Isaac Asimov adaptation Foundation are all huge critical hits, while Monarch: Legacy of Monsters and Apple TV’s upcoming William Gibson adaptation Neuromancer prove the streamer is also experimenting with sci-fi subgenres like kaiju stories and cyberpunk noir alongside Dark Matter’s multiverse saga.