Dark Matter season 2 still has no official release date, but it is expected to land on Apple TV at some point in 2026. To deal with the uncertainty of when the new episodes will arrive, you might want to turn to Blake Crouch's other literary works. Dark Matter is certainly one of the author/showrunner's best books, but he has a bunch of other excellent novels to bury yourself in. Dark Matter was originally published in 2016, so the mini multiverse franchise turns ten this year.
Season 2 will take the story further than ever before, with season 1 already exhausting the events of the lone novel. It might go without saying that fans of the show will also enjoy the book. However, I think the Apple TV project is in the rare position of an adaptation being far superior to the source material.
So, although the Dark Matter book offers a different perspective to the show, the 2016 novel has pretty much been relegated to optional reading. The same can't be said for other examples of Blake Crouch's literary works.
5. Abandon (2009)
Blake Crouch is best known for his sci-fi books, but it isn't the only genre in which he thrives. Abandon is a standalone psychological thriller and one of the writer's earliest published novels. Regardless, his signature writing style, which is incredibly readable, is still present in the 2009 effort. The story revolves around an abandoned town high up in the Colorado Rockies.
The book flits between present-day sequences and scenes set in 1893, when all of the titular settlement's inhabitants mysteriously vanished on Christmas Day. The novel keeps it grippingly unclear throughout whether something supernatural is to blame, but with not even a single bone left behind from the Abandon townsfolk, clues to the enigma are hard to come by. Good luck putting this one down.
4. The Wayward Pines Trilogy (2012-2014)
Pines, Wayward, and The Last Town all dropped in successive years between 2012 and 2014. The books combine to form a cohesive trilogy that blends Crouch's penchant for mysteries with his semi- grounded sci-fi worldbuilding.
When FBI agent Ethan Burke wakes up in a tiny Idaho town called Wayward Pines, he quickly becomes unnerved by just how idyllic everything (and everyone) seems. His primary goal is to get out and reach his family again, but that task proves far more difficult than he ever could have imagined. Expect a huge twist.
As a great alternative, if your reading pile is getting too high (or your TV watchlist is running dry), Wayward Pines was adapted into a two-season show between 2015 and 2016. Season 1 is great, despite the strange choice to squash the events of all three books into 10 episodes. Season 2 goes massively downhill as the writers started penning original storylines set in the same town. Some characters do return, but the focus shifts to the new protagonists and villains. On the whole, it's better to just read the books.
3. Famous (2010)
Another of Crouch's earliest novels, Famous could be viewed as sci-fi if generously labeled. It follows waster Lance Dunkquist, who has always coasted through life on his uncanny resemblance to Hollywood actor James Jansen. Rather than trying to carve out a name for himself, Lance finally moves to Hollywood in an attempt to cash in on his famous face in a far more substantial way than ever before. There is an odd sort of cognitive dissonance to Famous in that it just expects you to accept that Lance and James look identical.
They're so physically similar that even most of those close to both characters can't spot the difference. I wouldn't consider it a spoiler to say that the book never explains this phenomenon, as if you just absorb that quirk going in, you can concentrate far more on the story. I highly recommend Famous, but good luck trying to nail down its genre label. Also, be on the lookout for the A24 feature-length adaptation starring Zac Efron in both of the story's primary roles.
2. Upgrade (2022)
This is Crouch's most recent novel, and it really shows. Sure, he's always had an excellent command of worldbuilding and creating tension, especially in sci-fi, but Upgrade proves that practice makes even more perfect. It's not a light read, as it takes quite a cerebral dive into genetics. The story obviously takes some scientific liberties for poetic purposes, but it's easy to tell when you're reading Upgrade that the author has done his homework.
Upgrade is set in the mid-21st century, in the wake of an event called the Great Starvation. Genetic modification has been proven to be possible and even doable in incredibly advanced ways. However, the Great Starvation means such practices are now outlawed, which means they've been pushed underground and are dangerously unregulated. The main character's mother, who infamously had a big role in the genetic modification of crops that led to the Great Starvation, haunts the narrative brilliantly.
1. Recursion (2019)
This one is probably the closest thing to Dark Matter as you can get without just watching/reading Dark Matter. Just as the 2016 novel offers up a fresh take on traversing the multiverse, Recursion puts an amazing spin on time travel. Rather than it being some great invention that opens up countless possibilities, time travel in Recursion creates some deeply existential issues and subplots that I've never seen in any other story of its kind. It is, simply put, a masterpiece, but talking about it in too much detail would give away several spoilers. In short, people's memories are the vehicle that makes Recursion's time travel possible.
Despite focusing on a different sci-fi trope than Dark Matter, Recursion shares many of the same emotional themes. Both are built on the concept of regret and how fantastical means can be used in an attempt to "fix" things, only to find out after that the way things were is what suited the respective main character best. Although there has been no official word on a live-action Recursion adaptation, comments from Crouch on social media suggest he is attempting to make it happen. Personally, I hope it never makes it to the screen. It's flawless as it is.
Dark Matter season 1 is streaming now on Apple TV. Season 2 has wrapped and is expected at some point in 2026.