Dark Matter is a sci-fi thriller series based on the blockbuster book by acclaimed, bestselling author Blake Crouch. The nine-episode series features an ensemble cast that includes Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Connelly, Alice Braga, Jimmi Simpson, Dayo Okeniyi and Oakes Fegley. Dark Matter makes its global debut on Apple TV+ on 8 May 2024, premiering with the first two episodes, followed by new episodes every Wednesday through 26 June 2024.

Hailed as one of the best sci-fi novels of the decade, Dark Matter is a story about the road not taken. The series will follow Jason Dessen (played by Joel 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. In this labyrinth 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.

Crouch serves as executive producer, showrunner, and writer alongside executive producers Matt Tolmach and David Manpearl for Matt Tolmach Productions, and Joel Edgerton. Dark Matter is produced for Apple TV+ by Sony Pictures Television.

You can head on over here for our full review of Dark Matter.

Courtesy of Apple TV+ Malaysia, we were given the opportunity to interview Dark Matter actor Jimmi Simpson (who plays Ryan Holding). This interview has been edited for clarity.

What were your first thoughts about the script of Dark Matter?

Jimmi Simpson: The first time I read the script, I was kind of shocked by the writer’s ability to not just talk about the first kind of realistic multiverse based on quantum physics fact, the fact of superposition, and to offer up that reality expanded upon. That got me, because his multiverse is OG, he started it before the current fad. And the fact that it’s based on science fact, it was immensely attractive and the fact that he was dealing with the human condition of what if I made the other call, what if I made this other choice, and it’s universal, we’ve all wondered that.

He handles that with such aplomb, to overused a word but it’s just, it touched me because I was coming out of a phase where I had a lot of doubt about some choices I made. I had just started to reach this feeling where oh, everything happens for a reason, the pain is there for a reason, the good stuff is there for a reason, the scar tissue is there for a reason. I think the show perfectly illustrates that that’s not just a trite thing to say but a philosophy, that everything does happen for a reason.

How was the experience of portraying multiple versions of the same character?

Jimmi Simpson: It was a wonderful exercise, I love a little challenge when it comes to performance but everything was so clear though Blake’s words to me. I think I was kind of given the perfect clue with Ryan One to know who all three of these people are. Ryan One has had this objective his whole life, and he’s been granted it, he’s been given the thumbs up this whole time, and what he does when he reaches this high status, he says to his friend, I want to take you with me, I want this to be a shared win. And that to me, spoke volumes, because we’ve all met people who have been given status and don’t want to share, and it’s completely illustrative of how he feels.

So, Ryan Two, same goals, he’s not given the yeses, he’s still going to be a caregiver, and he’s going to care a bit more about Daniela because you remember, Jason Two isn’t quite as kind to Daniela, and then Ryan Three, who is given no agency of his own, of his own life, is the most lost. He was the hardest one to play because he was never given the agency that the first two share.
But it was so clear that they do share the same soul. So, the nuance of adjusting how their situations have affected their expressions, their realities, their physicalities, that was just fun to get specific about that.

What was it like working with the author and showrunner, Blake Crouch?

Jimmi Simpson: From the first time I chatted with him on the phone, I was amazed by how firmly his feet was on the ground of reality. He hasn’t taken his novelist success and assumed he was on a different level. He’s just a guy. Much like Joel Edgerton, who most of my scenes are with, I came in really looking up tp him, I still look up to him even more, but he is on the ground with me the whole time. So, Blake, being the source code for the novel, the screenplay, the showrunner, having him be so present and open-hearted and so sharp about what he wants to do but also so open to the reality that we’re building this together, it’s just so rare, it’s such a rare experience.

He was just there, a thousand percent in every capacity, and more so, as a friend even. I got really lucky with Blake Crouch and of course, it’s a soul and a mind like that who get to create something this beautiful. I do think the show is gorgeous and I can’t believe I get to be a part of it. So, thank you, Blake Crouch.

How does working on Dark Matter compare with your previous experiences, such as on Black Mirror?

Jimmi Simpson: You know, the reason why I love Charlie Brooker, the Black Mirror creator, writer, is because I’ve always been obsessed with The Twilight Zone and Rod Serling’s ability to play on human fears that have existed since we existed, xenophobia, isolation, loneliness. And then, Charlie Brooker with Black Mirror, his take is like we have this now currently, imagine if this tech in the future and what that would mean, so future fears.

With Blake, it’s almost like it’s perfectly current. Superposition is a reality of quantum physics and quantum mechanics. Dark Matter is a reality confirmed 50 years ago, and there are things we can’t quite see that exists, and to apply those, call it science fact, to the human condition of that wondering, oh, god, what if I had made the other choice. I found it so deeply satisfying and pertinent. You know, the current fascination with the multiverse has a lot to do with the state of the world and it may be a bit terribly unsettling and yet, Blake’s multiverse came before, he wrote that before the current trend and it’s also based securely in reality, so I found it moving on so many levels.

What do you think of people accusing you of being typecast into roles like the one in Dark Matter?

Jimmi Simpson: Like a lot of situations in life, it’s not all about what we’re choosing, it’s what’s available and what’s happening and whether or not you accept it. I think early on my mother asked me, why do you play only creepy bastards, do people in Hollywood not know you as a person? I was like, that’s not what I’m concerned about, I actually thought it was just a gift because no, I’m not that guy.
But for whatever the reason, let’s just be honest, maybe I just look like I’m up to no good, maybe there’s just something about me that looks like I might fuck with you and because of that, I can play those people and I can articulate that everybody is three-dimensional, nobody is an asshole for no reason.

I play the character in one of my favourite things, Hap And Leonard, where I nail a woman’s hand to a table, but it was for love, it was truly for love. So, I don’t have to mess around with the arc, like “I’m evil!”It’s like no, I’m trying to achieve something and I think maybe people respond to that and so, I take it as a compliment that they found me to be the guy to show that even bad guys are three-dimensional, and have a reason for being there, and have a humanity, even though it’s fractured, and even if it’s longing, and wanting and broken, they’re still people.

Check out the trailer below: