Alice Braga on ‘Dark Matter’ Season 2: “There is No Perfect World”

When we last left the world of Blake Crouch’s Dark Matter, the story wrapped up like the self-contained novel it was adapted from. So when Apple TV renewed the sci-fi thriller for a second season, it meant heading somewhere the source material never went. We caught up with star Alice Braga, who returns as Amanda, to talk about diving into uncharted territory, her real-life friendship with author Blake Crouch, and the guilt her character carries into this new chapter.

Season one of Dark Matter stuck closely to Crouch’s 2016 novel, but season two has no book to adapt from — Crouch and the writers room are building new territory from scratch. For Braga, that was part of the appeal of coming back. “It would be the continuation of these characters, and there’s no book, so it would be creating with the creator,” she said of getting the call to return. “It’s such an honor to work with Blake. He’s a guy that I deeply admire, and now is an amazing friend.”

That admiration extends to how Crouch approaches the genre in the first place. “He writes very much about the characters’ point of view,” Braga said. “It’s a lot about humanity more than anything else. That’s his drive to write science fiction.”

Season two pairs Amanda much more closely with Jimmi Simpson’s Ryan, a dynamic complicated by the fact that Amanda helped build the Box in the first place. “She’s not feeling 100% happy in the world that she finds herself in, because it’s not her world — it’s not her universe,” Braga explained. “But at the same time, that’s a home. It’s a new home. You can see how conflicted she is, because she feels responsible for him being trapped in a world that is not his.” As for taking on yet another rescue mission: “I’ve been there, done that — why do I have to do it again?” she laughed.

That guilt feeds into the bigger question Braga says the show doesn’t shy away from: how far can science go before it costs us our humanity? “This season brings a lot of that question of how far can we go with technology that is fantastic for science, but at the same time, at what cost?” she said. “What is this Box doing to many of these characters’ lives?”

It’s a theme dressed up in multiverse trappings — currently one of the most overused conceits in franchise storytelling — but Braga points to a line from Amanda herself, back in season one, as the show’s real thesis: there is no perfect world. “We need to make the choices and live as fully as we can, and accept those choices and be present in those,” she said. “If you don’t feel good, make another choice and create a new path. I think sometimes we beat ourselves up too much.”

Season two of Dark Matter is now streaming on Apple TV, with new episodes rolling out weekly through October 30. Check out our full conversation with Alice Braga above, and keep an eye out for our episode-by-episode recaps as the season unfolds.