INTERVIEW: Joel Edgerton Will Break Your Brain in Apple TV+ Sci-Fi Series Dark Matter

Dark Matter is Apple TV+’s hottest new sci-fi show, and its mind-bending multiverse concept is designed to hook you from the start.

At least, that’s what Dark Matter lead Joel Edgerton wants. He plays physicist Jason Dessen who, after getting abducted, discovers he’s somehow entered an alternate version of his own life.

Across nine episodes, Dessen encounters a labyrinth of realities - and the lives he could have lived - as he tries to return home. Edgerton chatted to Men’s Journal ahead of the series’ two-episode premier on Wednesday, May 8, 2024.

Dark Matter interview with Joel Edgerton

Men’s Journal:

“When you watch a series it takes a bit of time to get into it and get invested. Can you pinpoint the moment where this series hooks the viewer?”

Joel Edgerton:

“You know, you want to engage an audience, I think, almost immediately to be curious enough to keep watching. Obviously you certainly don't want to bore them. I think this show does a good job of kind of creating a mystery from the get-go.

I think it really happens in episode one for me when Jason, my character, gets kidnapped, and then sort of on the heels of that, of realising that there's not just one of him but two of him and that there's this sudden question about what the hell is going on here. Enough that hopefully that drags audiences into that second episode to answer the question of how that's possible."

Men’s Journal:

“It has a lot of quantum physics in it. How do you communicate that to an audience and make that exciting to watch?"

Joel Edgerton:

“Yeah, how to make science sexy. It's a real challenge because, on one hand, the concept of the show, this sort of access to multiple realities, is based in the real science of superposition and the idea of it having been proven that a particle can exist in two places at one time, and then the leap of faith is going all right. Let's now imagine that that technology can extend, or that theory can extend, to a human being being placed in two places at one time, therefore giving access to multiple realities.

...But you also don't really want to create a sense that the show is a big science lesson, because you can really lose people. I think there's a nice balance here of kind of addressing the issues, explaining what the theory in essence is, without going into too much verbal gymnastics. The challenge for me as an actor are at times just going all right well, how do you convey that information and how understandable can I make that scene coming out of my mouth, knowing that I am, in effect, definitely not a scientist?"

Men’s Journal:

“We have a lot of amazing sci-fi shows on Apple TV+, like Silo, Severance and now Dark Matter. Is Apple TV+ the best place for sci-fi right now?

Joel Edgerton:

“I do think they make good science fiction and they have an appetite for making shows at a budget that can be quite expansive and have a real visual um, sort of exciting, sort of beyond reality visual aspect to them.

But I also think that their fascination is that they're using these high-concept ideas and stories as a way to explore really good, true human, universal themes. And that was what really drew me to this is that it wasn't just a concept for a concept's sake to only do visual effects and big world building, but it was a way of asking questions of the audience that I ask of myself constantly, which is curiosity about how my choices have led me to who I am and where I am today and curiosity about what my life might have been like if I'd have taken a different road.

And I just love that as a theme and that, as far as a multiverse or a multi-parallel universe concept is, it's told through the eyes of relatively normal suburban people rather than the other wonderful things we've seen with superheroes and people with superpowers. This is about regular Chicago dwellers kind of dealing with access to a multiple reality."

Men’s Journal:

It's airing weekly, as opposed to dropping all the episodes in one go. What's the benefit of a show that releases all of its episodes week by week?"

Joel Edgerton:

“Well, I'm a child of the '70s and was watching my first television through the '80s and '90s, and that's the way it always used to be. You'd have to wait, and part of the waiting is that if you're invested, you get to look forward to the next installment.

If you are watching it with a partner or with friends, you get to talk about it and  imagine what's going to happen next. So you get to be part of imagining where the narrative is heading, and I really love that, even today when I watch television, rather than just having a chance of completely binging things.

The pressure in today's world is there's so much television and I think our lives are so fast in terms of consumption of content that you just know that the pressure is on for the show to be indelible and memorable and exciting enough that audiences are able to be patient for seven days, you know, for the next installment, and hold the information in their head as they go forward."

Related: What’s New on Apple TV+ in 2024

Men’s Journal:

“We've seen you in crime thrillers, historical dramas, and MMA sports dramas. What appealed to you most about your role in this one?"

Joel Edgerton:

“I definitely have a curiosity, like a lot of people, about the aspects of the road not taken, and I think the show also ultimately talks about how sometimes you need to be taken away in an objective viewpoint of your own life to understand just how lucky you are.

But from my point of view, occasionally I have to remind myself of how much gratitude I should have for the things I have and the people I have in my life. The other thing that really resonated for me as I'm getting older I turned 50 this year, I have three-year-old twins, and I'm really drawn to stories about parenthood, and the kind of parent I imagine myself to be is often reflected in stories that I read and they really resonate with me now that I'm in a different chapter of my life, and I really found that in Dark Matter is this story of a man who's so desperate to get back together with his family. I found it very moving and very personal.

Men’s Journal:

"The trailer has 5.5 million views. Why exactly do you think audiences are so excited for this series?"

Joel Edgerton:

“I think there's something in the hook of the show having this aspect of sliding doors about it. I even the other day I had a moment where I was crossing the street and a lady ran a red light and it immediately conjured up all of these fractured thoughts for me of like, god, I'm lucky that I didn't get hit by that car, but what if I had been left the house, you know, ten seconds earlier? Could I maybe have been hit by that car? How would that affect my life and my family?

I think audiences, when they look at a story like this, I do think it makes them reflect on their own sense of positioning in life, based on choices and right or wrong and reflection of regret or remorse about past events.

Men’s Journal:

"If you weren't an actor, what would you be in another parallel universe?"

Joel Edgerton:

"I would always say that I always hoped that I was telling stories and being a writer. I had an accident in 2000 that caused me a sort of a mild disability for a while and I remember thinking at the time, potentially that would affect my career. That's the mild, narrow thinking I had at the time and I remember thinking, 'oh, what else would I do?' And I always hoped that I could tell stories.

But back in the day, when I was on my way to drama school, the other thing I was really really curious about doing was going off and doing fine art and becoming a painter, and I quite often wonder what life would have been like if I'd have made that choice. I would have met a whole other group of people in a different, you know, course of study, and would I still be pursuing that and would I be any good at it? You know like I often sort of run down that road of thought, but I'm very happy with who I am and what I am and what I have in my life."