Dark Matter Producer Reveals Why Book Became a TV Series Instead of a Movie

It's all about finding space for character moments to breathe.

By Russ Burlingame

Today sees the release of Dark Matter on Apple TV+, but originally, that wasn't the plan. When The Amazing Spider-Man producer Matt Tolmach optioned the rights to Dark Matter, the plan was to bring the project to the big screen. According to Tolmach, it didn't take too long before he started to realize that he wanted more space to tell more of the book's story, which in turn led go pitching the adaptation as a TV show. Now Blake Crouch, the writer whose books are being adapted, and Tolmach are executive producers on a series that stars Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Connelly.

Speaking with ComicBook in support of the series, which premieres with two episodes today, Tolmach explained the process of coming to the decision -- while he and Crouch joked that in some alternate timeline somewhere, the pair are sitting in those same chairs, explaining to ComicBook's Chris Killian why the movie was a better idea, and the whole thing never would have worked on TV.

"I think in that parallel universe where we made that, it would have been a really good movie, but we wouldn't have explored Jason-2 on the level that we did, we woudln't have explored Amanda on the level that we did," Tolmach explained. "Part of what is, I think, special about the show that we made, is that it's a very human journey -- it's a character piece. You have to be with these characters. Particularly with the overall arc of it, the longing that Jason-1 has to return to his world and his family -- you have to feel that in a very profound way to kind of earn the journey, and to feel the hopelessness that he faces along the way and the joy...so in order to really invest, you need to spend time there, and it was time that we were giving up [to make the movie]."

Below, you can check out the official synopsis for Dark Matter:

Related:

Jason Dessen is abducted into an alternate version of his life; to get back to his true family, he embarks on a harrowing journey to save them from the most terrifying foe imaginable: himself; based on Blake Crouch's best-selling book.

Dark Matter premieres globally with the first two episodes on Wednesday, May 8, 2024 followed by one new episode weekly through June 26, 2024.

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