Yes, it’s slightly confusing that there’s going to be a new series called Dark Matter that has nothing to do with the underrated Syfy series Dark Matter. This one’s multiverses, rather than space, and stars Joel Edgerton (Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi) rather than an ensemble.
And now it sounds all the more appealing, as Jennifer Connelly (leaping off Snowpiercer, above) has signed on to play Edgerton’s character’s wife.
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Dark Matter
Dark Matter is based on the novel by Blake Crouch, whose work has also been adapted into the series Wayward Pines and Good Behavior. For Dark Matter, the author is wearing many hats: writer, executive producer, and showrunner. According to Apple, “the series will follow Jason Dessen (played by 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 multiverse of lives he could have lived. In this labyrinth of mind-bending 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.”
So … how many versions of Daniela, Jason’s wife, will Connelly play? At least two, it sounds like.
In some circles, Connelly is best known for her role in the incomprehensibly Oscar-winning A Beautiful Mind; in these parts, she is best known for facing off with David Bowie’s Goblin King as Sarah in Labyrinth. (She was also Betty Ross in the 2003 Hulk.) Snowpiercer was her second major TV role, after her turn in the early-2000s show The $treet. Oddly, this is her third role in a project that begins with Dark, the other two being the excellent Dark City and the horror film Dark Water.
Connelly has always kind of flown under the radar, despite so many interesting roles: She was in Pollock! And Little Children! And apparently is in Top Gun: Maverick, which is a fascinating and odd choice but sure, why not! She’s also in a lot of things that even a movie geek and longtime Jennifer Connelly admirer (me, I mean me) has never seen. There’s something very appealing about pairing her with Edgerton, who also has an interesting career (have you seen the movie Animal Kingdom is based on??) but is somehow much more visible.
No release date has been announced for Dark Matter.
