Ahead of Season 2 of "Dark Matter" (based on Blake Crouch's novel, with Crouch as showrunner), Collider offers a recap of Season 1, which first aired in May 2024. The refresher matters for viewers returning after a long gap, given the show's dense multiversal plotting: physics professor Jason Dessen (Joel Edgerton) is kidnapped and swapped into a parallel reality by an alternate version of himself, who then takes over his life with wife Daniela (Jennifer Connelly) and son Charlie (Oakes Fegley).

The season follows Jason as he teams up with psychiatrist Amanda Lucas (Alice Braga) to use a dimension-hopping device called "The Box" to search for his way home, passing through increasingly bleak worlds including a fire-ravaged Chicago, a frozen wasteland and a planet overrun by predatory creatures. Amanda eventually settles in a utopia she finds, while "Jason 2" struggles to convince Daniela and Charlie that nothing is amiss. The finale reveals that numerous versions of Jason have splintered off across his travels and converged back on his home world, some hardened and dangerous from what they endured, setting up the conflict for Season 2, which premieres on 28 August.