Jennifer Connelly, Joel Edgerton, and Alice Braga Call Dark Matter Series “Very Faithful To The Novel”
Hailed as one of the best sci-fi novels of the decade, Dark Matter: A Novel, written by best selling author Blake Crouch, is a story about the road not taken. The highly anticipated Apple TV+ adaptation Dark Matter follows Jason Dessen (Joel Edgerton), a physicist, professor, and family man. One night, while walking home on the streets of Chicago, Jason 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. In this labyrinth (I see you, Jennifer Connelly) of realities, he embarks on a harrowing journey to get back to his true family and save them from the most terrifying, unbeatable foe imaginable: himself. Pop Culture Planet’s Danielle Forte spoke with actor and executive producer Joel Edgerton and actresses Jennifer Connelly and Alice Braga about the new series.
Book adaptations are something of a norm more recently, and actor Joel Edgerton, who plays protagonist Jason Dessen, knows this. Though, he thinks Dark Matter is a diamond in the rough. “There are a lot of people that are fans of the book. The series has extra stuff, like each character is built in a slightly different way, in order that the drama that ensues between them is more complex,” he told me. “The book is already great, so the series goes beyond that.”
Alice Braga, who plays Amanda, agrees. “I read the book right after I got the project Chernobyl and devoured it. I wanted to jump on board because it brings things up that I thought were interesting to discuss,” she shared. “[It’s] sci-fi with this perspective — humanity, human emotions, thoughts, and ideas, it was interesting.”
Edgerton wore many hats on the Dark Matter set. While tackling the main role, he also served as one of the series’ executive producers. His first order of business: casting himself. “The first thing I did was cast myself. [It was a] strategic move. Become a producer and cast Joel Edgerton,” he joked. More seriously, Edgerton told me his role as executive producer focused on “front loaded involvement in story and enthusiasm for getting the show put together in a very minor way that [he] could participate. So, being involved in story discussions about breaking down the episodes and so on.”
Edgerton wanted it to be known though, that the book’s author lead the way for the series and has him to thank for how the show came about. “The heart and soul of the show is Blake, the author, who ran the writer’s room, wrote most of the screenplays, and was there every single day, making every key decision about how the show would look and feel,” he said.
Braga added on to Edgerton’s sentiment: “It was such an honor, right? To work with the creator of the book as our showrunner is such a wonderful thing.”
While Braga agreed that Crouch was the heart and soul of the show, she didn’t want Edgerton to undermine his contributions to the show. “When I heard that he was not only the lead, but also the executive producer I was really excited because he’s a wonderful writer as well,” she said. “For an adaptation of such a special book like Dark Matter with a huge fan base, but also being a mind bending story to adapt and put on the screen, I think it really helps everybody else to be guided by him on set.”
If fans of the book needed any more reassurance, esteemed actress Jennifer Connelly, who plays Jason’s '“real wife” Daniela, said she actually referred back to the book while filming the series as “the script is very faithful to the novel.”
Dark Matter will premiere on Apple TV+ on May 8.
