Warning: This article contains spoilers for the second-season finale of Dark Matter.
The second season of Dark Matter concludes with a mix of intimate scenes and high-intensity action, a balance that creator Blake Crouch said reflects the story’s central device. In an interview with Reactor, he described the box as capable of producing both beautiful and terrifying experiences, with the finale bringing those extremes together.
Among the episode’s most dangerous sequences, Jason, played by Joel Edgerton, and Blair, portrayed by Amanda Brugel, are pursued through the box into two hostile worlds. One is a war-torn version of downtown Chicago, while the other is a low-gravity environment where the familiar laws of physics no longer apply.
Crouch said the corridor sequence, in which characters emerge from doors into radically different settings, had been a key creative goal from the beginning. The Chicago scenes were filmed on location near where he lived. He and co-writer Jacquelyn Ben-Zekry discovered the site unexpectedly and saw its burned-out cars as a strong match for the show’s vision.
The low-gravity world originated in an idea Crouch had previously written in his journals for the novel on which the series is based, although it never appeared in the book. He initially suggested the concept jokingly during development, but the production team embraced it. The sequence required a separate box mounted on a gimbal, with the actors supported by wires.
Crouch recalled that the setup looked uncertain during filming, but said the visual effects team, led by John Heller, and editor Joe Leonard turned the material into something that exceeded his expectations.
The finale also leaves several storylines open for a possible third and final season. Crouch did not reveal specific plot details, but clarified that the world Daniela, played by Jennifer Connelly, and Charlie, played by Oakes Fegley, reach is not the same one where Max was alive.
Beyond that point, Crouch said the team has a strong idea for a potential final season, should Apple TV commission more episodes. The first two seasons of Dark Matter are currently streaming on Apple TV.
Sources: Reactor.