Aussie acting legend Joel Edgerton will cross entire universes to get back to Jennifer Connelly in this slick new sci-fi drama. series. To be fair, so would we.
How to watch Dark Matter in the UK
Dark Matter is streaming in the UK exclusively on Apple TV+ right this minute, and probabilistically in several other universes too.
Dark Matter: Season 1
What is Dark Matter about?
Not to be confused with the gritty space opera of the same name that came out a few years ago, Dark Matter sees Edgo as physics professor Jason Essen, who finds himself in the unusual position of being kidnapped by another version of himself and deposited into the universe next door, where things are markedly different. For one thing, he’s not married, and thus his son was never born. Understandably rattled, the good professor sets out to return to his own timeline. Meanwhile, what’s the other him up to? Probably nothing good.
Dark Matter was created by Blake Crouch, who adapted his own 2016 novel, and if his name sounds familiar it’s because Wayward Pines was also based on his work. The series combines insightful personal drama with plenty of high-falutin’ egghead concepts about time, space, death, and reality, which is very much to our tastes. Plus, it features a sterling cast, many of whom have to convincingly play multiple subtly different versions of the same character. And speaking of which…
The cast of Dark Matter
Joel Edgerton, who has played everything from an orc cop to the Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt (that’s range, baby) is Essen; Jennifer Connelly, who will always be known for Labyrinth even in the face of decades of top notch work in other roles, is his wife, Daniela; Oakes Fegley of Pete’s Dragon is their son, Charlie; Alice Braga is psychiatrist Amanda; and the always reliable Jimmi Simpson plays Ryan, who is probably a villain. We don’t know for sure, but Jimmi’s just got one of those faces.
Dark Matter trailer
Why we’re excited about Dark Matter
Look, we can’t say for sure, but the recent preponderance of alternate universe stories in everything from the Marvel Cinematic Universe to Russian Doll and Rick and Morty makes us suspect that we as a culture would really like to escape to another reality and, barring a scientific breakthrough, this is the next best thing. And our man Luke liked it, and he’s generally worth listening to.
