The Eye-Rolling Ending to Apple TV+'s 'Dark Matter' Explained

Apple TV+’s Dark Matter is a wild ride — confusing, bonkers, sometimes compelling, but mostly tedious. Here’s the story in a nutshell: Joel Edgerton plays Jason Dessen, a professor living a modest life with his wonderful, modest wife, Daniela (Jennifer Connelly), and their teenage son, Charlie (Oakes Fegley).

One day, Jason is abducted, knocked out, and drugged. He wakes up in another universe. We’ll call this Jason “Original Jason,” or O.J. We then meet “Imposter Jason” — a brilliant scientist who is wealthy, famous, and single. He works with a woman named Amanda (Alice Braga), who is more than just a colleague. Imposter Jason invented a box and a drug that lets him hop between universes. Wanting O.J.’s life, Imposter Jason pulls the switcheroo.

Imposter Jason steps into O.J.’s shoes, becoming husband and father to Daniela and Charlie. He also does some shady business to get rich quick, buys his son a car, and tells his wife to quit her job and live her best artist life. He’d have gotten away with it, too, except he started flossing, and Daniela knew that her husband did not floss!

Meanwhile, O.J. teams up with Amanda, and they jump back in the box, hoping to return to his home universe. It’s not easy. They travel through various universes — some eerily similar, some utopias powered by green energy, and some absolute dystopian nightmares. Amanda realizes O.J. won’t find his way home with her tagging along, so she sets up camp in a new universe, leaving O.J. to fly solo.

O.J. eventually makes it back to his original universe and confronts Imposter Jason. Long story short, Imposter Jason kills O.J., which sucks because O.J. was the hero here. But wait! Plot twist! Every choice O.J. made in the box created a duplicate. Now, there are hundreds of O.J.s, all returning to reclaim their life and family. They’re all ready to fight to be the one true O.J., and they all have an equal claim.

But only one is clever enough to light a cigar in a restaurant, get arrested, and force Daniela to bail him out. This duplicate O.J. — let’s call him D.J. — tells Daniela there are hundreds of him, but he’s the one she wants. She agrees. They use a safe word (“Jupiter”) — so that he’s never confused for the other O.J.s — grab Charlie and hide from all the other O.J.s.

D.J. reconnects with his family while camping out in a house usually occupied by a friend of Charlie’s. Meanwhile, Imposter Jason gets nabbed by an O.J., apologizes for thinking O.J. would prefer his life, escapes, kills a few O.J.s, and finds D.J., Daniela, and Charlie. Instead of killing D.J., he holds off some other O.J.s so D.J. and the family can escape. He also leaves them the drugs to use the box, relocate to another universe, and start fresh, along with a heartfelt recording:

“This world is no longer safe for any of you. And I hope you can find a new home, and I’m sure you will because you’ve all been through things I can’t imagine. And they’ve shaped you into an even more perfect puzzle that can only fit one another.”

When they get to the box, scores of O.J.s are blocking their way. Despite having as much claim to O.J.’s life as D.J., these O.J.s decide to sacrifice themselves to let D.J. have it. D.J. and his family pass into the box and relocate to another universe.

What happens to the hundreds of O.J.s left behind? Who knows?! What does a universe with hundreds of identical people—many of whom have been murdered—even look like? Shhhhh. Don’t ask questions. Just go with it, OK?

TL;DR: One man switches universes with another, duplicates hundreds of copies of himself, and the original man has to relocate to another universe to escape the duplicates.