dark matter second season is coming soon, and Apple TV’s big Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con gave fans a glimpse of what they can expect. to go with that explosive teaserThe cast and creators took the stage to reveal the continuing adventures of reluctant multiverse traveler Jason Dessen (Joel Edgerton).
Since the first season adapted Blake Crouch’s book quite well, the author, who is also the creator and showrunner of the series, had no longer previously written source material to draw on. Speaking from the Hall H stage, he seemed to enjoy the challenge.
“The first season is based on the book, and we used every available moment and character beat that we could because we weren’t sure about doing 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 could be bad; some of them could be amazing. It was our job to figure out how to try to make what we had done better. Imagine that your house has been taken away from you (and) your job has been taken away from you. You’ve lost all your friends; you’ve lost your whole world. All you have is your family, and that’s where the Dessens start in season two… The whole season is really about being alone and finding people to hold you and help you live life and of course it’s bigger, badder, more emotional than the first season and I can’t wait for everyone to see it.”
At the end of the first season, the Dessens—Jason, his wife Daniela (Jennifer Connelly), and their son Charlie (Oakes Fegley)—finally arrived in the same universe. The Jason variants that used the Box, an invention that allows travel between dimensions, with the intention of stealing the life of “Jason One” have been retired. For now.
“After everything that happened in the first season, (they’re trying to) find some sense of normalcy,” Edgerton said. “And in the spirit of the show’s themes, (there’s) a sense that you can’t really go back and do something else. You have to recognize (and) absorb what came before… then there’s a sense of defining what home is, because you’re going to find a place to live, and that’s a question of is it a family home or is it a home place, or what is home to you? So that’s where we start.”
Connelly added: “I think when we first see them again, they are trying to have a simple and quiet life. And something happens pretty quickly to ruin that plan. So they’re left kind of reeling and trying to find a place where they can rebuild and evaluate 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 even know who they are anymore? So that’s where we find them.”
Matt Tolmach, executive producer of dark matterHe said the Dessens will have to make some tough decisions as the second season progresses.
“I think what happens in the second season is that they are faced with all the options,” he said. “What happens when the options are limitless? Who do you become? The decisions you make define you. I remember watching the end of the first season and literally thinking as an audience member, what now?… Now that you know you can go anywhere and do anything, who do you become? What is your life? What are the decisions you’re going to make next? And that was such an amazing, surprising challenge for the story.”
We will discover more about the decisions they make when dark matter returns August 28 to Apple TV.
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