Quite a few of the changes came from the mind of star Joel Edgerton.
Warning: This article contains spoilers from theDark Matterfinale, “Entanglement.”
But like with any book-to-screen adaptation, some changes had to be made.
Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Connelly, and Oakes Fegley in ‘Dark Matter’.Apple+
Entertainment Weeklyspoke with Crouch and executive producer Matt Tolmach about some of those big decisions.
“A lot of that came from Joel Edgerton,” Crouch says.
“Joel was just like, ‘I don’t want to demonize Jason2.
Joel Edgerton in ‘Dark Matter’.Apple+
At the end, it would be really interesting to see some real growth on his part.’
But that all really started with Joel.”
But you don’t suddenly become an arch super-villain because you made a different choice.
Jimmi Simpson in ‘Dark Matter’.Apple+
Those not-great character qualities also exist within Jason1."
Ryan’s fate
One of Jason2’s darkest choices?
Leaving Ryan1 (Jimmi Simpson) trapped in another world, something that did not happen in the book.
Even Jason1, you see a little bit of that loss.
So for Jason2, we pushed that idea to the limit.
He’s going to use this thing at the core of our show to help solve his problem."
It’s something that I never really explored in the book except for one very brief chapter.
In the show, they only kiss.
“We had a lot of discussions.
So many people would’ve had an absolutely polarizing reaction to that,” Crouch says.
“Some people would be like, ‘I get it’s his wife.’
And then we lose their allegiance and their sympathies for Jason at the end of the second episode.”
“The characters themselves are torn,” Tolmach adds.
“That’s the most honest version of it.
You’re the same person, but you’re not.
And it allows the drama to encapsulate exactly what you’re getting at without committing to it.
“All nine episodes ofDark Matterare streaming now on Apple TV+.
