A sleek, high-concept sci-fi thriller with strong momentum, emotional stakes, and a very watchable lead performance. It’s best when it leans into identity, family, and alternate-life dread, though the plotting can feel familiar if you’ve seen a lot of multiverse fiction.
Dark Matter
Where to watch: Buy
TV Show · Sci-Fi & Fantasy · Drama
Tue
Created by: Blake Crouch
Starring: Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Connelly, Alice Braga
Overview
Jason Dessen is abducted into an alternate version of his life. To get back to his true family, he embarks on a harrowing journey to save them from the most terrifying foe imaginable: himself.
Created by
Blake Crouch
Cast
Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Connelly, Alice Braga, Jimmi Simpson, Dayo Okeniyi, Oakes Fegley
Curator Review
Verdict
A sleek, high-concept sci-fi thriller with strong momentum, emotional stakes, and a very watchable lead performance. It’s best when it leans into identity, family, and alternate-life dread, though the plotting can feel familiar if you’ve seen a lot of multiverse fiction.
Best for
viewers who like fast-paced sci-fi mysteries
fans of alternate-reality and multiverse stories
people who want a bingeable Apple TV thriller
audiences drawn to emotional, family-centered genre drama
Skip if
you want hard sci-fi with rigorous worldbuilding
you dislike multiverse premises
you prefer subtle, low-concept storytelling
you’re tired of identity-swap and parallel-life plots
Overview
Dark Matter is a polished, accessible adaptation that turns a high-concept premise into a propulsive thriller. It works best as a story about marriage, regret, and the terror of choosing the wrong life, with Joel Edgerton giving the material enough grounded urgency to keep the emotional stakes believable.
Worth noting
The show has the clean, premium-streamer finish Apple TV does well: strong production design, brisk pacing, and a constant sense of forward motion. It’s easy to binge, and the central hook is strong enough to carry viewers through the twists even when the mechanics of the multiverse start to feel familiar.
Bottom line
That said, it doesn’t fully escape the shadow of earlier identity-and-alternate-reality sci-fi. The ideas are effective more than revelatory, and the series is strongest when it stays close to its human core rather than over-explaining the science. For viewers in the mood for a sleek, emotionally driven genre ride, it’s a solid watch.