Jimmi Simpson Talks Multiversal Chemistry in ‘Dark Matter’ Season 2

I recently sat down with Emmy-nominated actor Jimmi Simpson to talk about Dr. Ryan Holder, the role he’s played across two seasons of Apple TV’s Dark Matter — and, this season, across several different versions of the same man.

Before getting to the multiverse, Simpson spoke about his time working on Late Show with David Letterman. “He’s godlike to me,” Simpson said of the late night legend as he reflected on being part of a long lineage of recurring characters like Larry “Bud” Melman and Chris Elliott.

Turning to Dark Matter itself, Simpson said the fun of playing multiple versions of Ryan isn’t about how different they can be, but how much they stay the same. “They remained the same despite having lived entirely different lives,” he said. “And there’s something kind of strangely reassuring about that — that you are who you are. Apparently even infinite possibilities can’t entirely get rid of your personality.” Season 2 pairs him against an earlier version of his own character, a mechanic rather than the genius chemist audiences already know. “I had a wonderful chemistry with myself,” Simpson joked. “Although I don’t think I’d work with me again.”

Much of Simpson’s season revolves around his scenes with Alice Braga, who plays Amanda — not to be confused with Amanda Brugel, who plays Blair elsewhere in the Dark Matter ensemble. Ryan and Amanda shared one of Season 1’s most memorable scenes, but this year Braga becomes his primary scene partner, and Simpson lit up describing the chemistry. “Alice is one of those actors who just makes you a better actor by being present with her,” he said. “She’s incredibly open, emotionally available, and there’s this wonderful intelligence behind everything she does.”

The result, he said, is a relationship that plays less like high-concept science fiction and more like two old friends comparing notes: “We can be discussing something as absurd as traveling between universes, but it still feels like two people just chatting about their lives — without having to explain, ‘I swear I’m not crazy, this is what’s happening.’ There’s a peace there that both of them needed.”

That human-scale intimacy, Simpson argued, is what separates Dark Matter from the rest of his sizable sci-fi resume, which includes Westworld and Black Mirror. “A lot of the sci-fi I do, and a lot of what I was drawn to as a reader as a kid — like Ray Bradbury — is about imagining what could be,” he said. “Dark Matter is really touching on this human truth of self-doubt. Like Alan Watts or Carl Jung would say, you can spin out — that’s the definition of human torture, imagining what you could have changed, or what you could still change.” It’s a thesis Jason2 embodies perfectly: the version of the show’s central character who steals another man’s life, only to learn firsthand that the grass isn’t always greener (our own recap of the Season 2 bottle episode dug into that same idea from a different angle). “All the box travel is almost a gift to humanity,” Simpson said. “It’s pointing out that you can go in all these different directions, and all that happens is you lose what you are. So if you tend to the garden at your feet, that’s where you’re going to find the most peace.”

Asked what would happen if Lyle, rather than Ryan, ever found his way into the show’s reality-hopping box, Simpson didn’t hesitate: “I think Lyle would enter a world where he is David Letterman — the David Letterman of that universe. He loves Dave very much, but he’s pretty sure he could do it a little bit better.” As for whether he’d take that trip himself, Simpson was less sure. “I don’t think I’d do it without a guaranteed return ticket,” he said. “I’ve traveled enough as an actor to know that’s an important part of the experience — going somewhere else, knowing you can get back.”

New episodes of Dark Matter Season 2 stream Fridays on Apple TV.