Dark Matter boss breaks down season finale and how he decided Jason's future

The Apple TV+ show took viewers into a multiverse to explore the road less travelled, with leading man Jason Dessen (Joel Edgerton), his wife Daniela (Jennifer Connelly) and teen son Charlie (Oakes Fegley), heading off into the great unknown together.

The final episode, Entanglement, saw Jason 1 face off against multiple versions of himself, each of whom had the desire to take over his life.

While Jason 2 stole Jason 1's identity to get away from the responsibility of his high-ranking (and slightly shady) job as a physicist for life as a teacher, husband and father, hundreds of alternate Jasons were in communication with each other – all of whom with their own reasons for wanting to be with Daniela and Charlie.

With a literal horde of Jasons coming after them – even debating whether to make a 'lottery' to decide who gets the life or offering to 'timeshare' Daniela and Charlie – a select few did the right thing to get the family to safety.

In the final moments of the show, and much like the novel the show is based on, the trio use the multiverse-accessing box together, head down the corridor of doors – each one holding a different present day life – before Charlie chooses one and they step through as a unit into a new world, ensuring they couldn't be found.

The only hint for the viewer of what lies ahead for them is a beam of bright light.

Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com, showrunner and novelist Blake Crouch explained that the Dessens' final fate was something they had planned from the outset.

"We always knew that it ended with the family going into the box as it is in the book," he said.

"We played around with like a few moments of where that end might come, but, you know, ultimately it felt like the show wanted to end like the book ended – on that hopeful, uncertain moment as the door opens and light streams in and suddenly, it's just the audience and the corridor."

Despite creating this left-of-normal reality from the beginning, creating the novel the show became based on, and using the opportunity in the making of the show to fix things he regretted in Jason's tale, Crouch admitted he has no idea where the family ends up.

"I don't. Once they step out, they're off on their journey and I'm not with them anymore," he said. "And I kind of leave that to the audience to imagine."

"I think that's sort of the magic of it," added executive producer Matt Tolmach. "I was gonna say I think sort of the beauty of it is it then allows the viewer, the reader, to project what that looks like, whatever that is, wherever you think those characters are.

"And I think sometimes that's a powerful thing in film, is to still allow the audience to imagine."

While the ending remained ambiguous, Crouch and Tolmach were hesitant to reveal if they had any future plans for the series, should it be picked up for a second season.

When asked whether they considered extending the Dessens' tale beyond the book, or turning Dark Matter into an anthology, Crouch said: "I think we went into this open to the idea that there could be more, but it wasn't a situation where we declared 'Oh, it's this many seasons and this is one, two and three'.

"If we end up doing more we'll just have to come up with other cool things."

When pushed about what those cool things could be, Crouch joked: "I have lots of ideas... he said coyly."

Read more:

• For All Mankind renewed for season 5 and brand new spin-off announced
• Rebecca Ferguson says Silo will end after seasons 3 and 4

Dark Matter is available in full now on Apple TV+. Sign up to Apple TV+ now. Blake Crouch’s novel Dark Matter is available to purchase here.

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