Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Connelly talk Dark Matter season 2 — and the Back to the Future cameo they'd love for season 3
The duo are back in Apple's hit sci-fi show
Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Connelly have been gracing our screens for over forty years between them, but it turns out throwing the pair together in the scintillating sci-fi adaptation Dark Matter was the hit we never knew we needed.
Twisting around Blake Shelton’s topsy turvey world, Connelly and Edgerton lit up our screens and thoroughly confused us during season one of Apple TV's 2024 hit. Now, Dark Matter is back for season two, and it only gets more twisted.
For the uninitiated, Dark Matter is based on Shelton’s 2016 novel following Jason Dessen (Edgerton), a physicist, professor and family man who — one night while walking home on the streets of Chicago — is abducted into an alternate version of his life. Wonder quickly turns to nightmare when he tries to return to his reality amid the mind-bending landscape of lives he could have lived.
Season two picks up with the Dessens as they settle into a quiet life in a world that finally seems safe — until the unimaginable forces them to run once again. As Jason’s obsessions deepen, Daniela’s (Connelly) growing paranoia pushes her to the brink, threatening to tear their fragile stability apart.
Spooky and thrilling, we had a quick catch up with Joel and Jennifer ahead of season two hitting screens on 28th August.
There have famously been a slew of fantastic adaptations recently – Jilly Cooper's Rivals, Ridley Scott's The Dog Stars, BAFTA winning Hamnet. So, the pressure is on a little for the second season of Dark Matter to uphold the current M.O. However it sounds as though it wasn't getting to the pair.
"Dark Matter was such a great thing to adapt because Blake was interested to go take the book and then push some of the characters even further," Joel explains, referencing the more emotive POV we get from his character in the series.
When it comes to adaptations the pair would like to see get the big screen treatment, it seems Hollywood already has them covered.
"I'm famously trying to get my hands on books that have already been optioned and I'm not allowed to," Joel jokes, laughing.
Adapting a killer novel is a far more laborious process that it often seems to audiences, with books' rights getting snapped up sometimes just months after their publish date, even if it takes years – decades even – until they hit our screens.
"It's best to get a hold of books that are not that well known, that have a great story or a great plot," Joel explains.
"Not just because then you've actually beaten everyone else to it [but also] because the pressure of adapting a well-loved book is so intense. Your imagination has pictured the world and the characters separately from other readers."
Translation: you're never gonna please everyone.
It's exciting to see Dark Matter getting a second series, as we've lost too many great series to the graveyard of single-season-hits – only yesterday Hulu confirmed it had cancelled Not Suitable for Work after just one season, My Lady Jane (unfairly) met the same fate. It's not just one-seasoners that have been unfairly cancelled – Joel's one that got away cancelled was the 2004 HBO series Deadwood. "I was obsessed with that show and I remember being really hungry for more of it."
From looking back on under-served shows of yore, to thinking about a possible season three of Dark Matter, there was only one thing we wanted to know. Celebrity Crushes. Or more specifically, the other celebrities the pair love who would have made an incredible cameo in Dark Matter. One of the great things about sci-fi is that no celebrity is out of place – a scientist? Well, they need to explain the time travel obvs. Alison Hammond? Of course she'd pop up even in a topsy turvey world, entertaining whatever is left of civilization.
"The person who popped into my head was Michael J. Fox," Joel laughs. "I don't know why."
"I often think about our show being like a multiverse, visiting parallel universes. And I often wonder what it would be like if you were to add time travel to that. And of course, my prince of time travel is Michael J. Fox. So for some reason, he popped into my head. And I have always adored him."
"The first person I thought of was Anthony Hopkins," Jennifer agreed, similarly unsure as to how she got to that conclusion.
"I don't really know why I just pictured him in that kind of room dispelling wisdom. You know, he's a wise man. When you're in a science fiction show and you need someone to explain a complicated scientific concept, Anthony Hopkins would be perfect because he could do anything. He could convince you of anything. He's the best."
Dark Matter S2 will premiere globally on Apple TV with the first episode on Friday, August 28, followed by one new episode every Friday through October 30, 2026.
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