As much as I love Dark Matter, even I will admit that it can get very confusing trying to remember who is who. Unlike other multiverse stories, the functional lack of physical differences between various iterations of its main characters makes Dark Matter an especially tricky story to track at times. A different hairstyle here, a mustache there; that's often all the series gives us to go on.
However, ahead of the upcoming season 2 finale, it's important to be fully aware of who every member of the new team is. The four-piece is set up to try to take the original Box offline in the next episode, permanently severing the connections between the countless realities that make up Dark Matter's multiverse. So, let me guide you through who everyone is, as well as what their connection to the Box and to one another.
FULL SPOILERS ahead for Dark Matter season 2 episode 9, "How to Bulid the Box."
This Jason Dessen is Dark Matter's main character
Although the Apple TV series has fleshed out the arcs of other characters from the 2016 book, and even created a few new ones, Jason has remained the story's central protagonist. His abduction at the hands of Jason2 in season 1 is Dark Matter's catalyzing incident, and he's been through a heck of a lot since then.
After being the only version of Jason to successfully make it back to Daniela (Jennifer Connelly) and Charlie (Oakes Fegley) first, he and the other two members of the Dessen family were forced to find a new reality that wasn't flooded with other Jasons, equally desperate, and just as entitled to be reunited with their wife and son.
More recently, he's become the impromptu leader of the team of four planning to take the original Box offline. Although he abandoned building the Box years before Dark Matter's main story, his renewed interest in the underlying physics of the thing is quickly catching him up on how it works. His knowledge doesn't quite rival that of Jason2, who did actually build the Box, but it might be enough when pooled with the resources and support of his three allies.
Ryan Holder is the best friend of Dark Matter's main Jason Dessen
In the book, this Ryan (Jimmi Simpson) only features briefly, very early on. He's just used as little more than a measuring stick for Jason to measure his own professional achievements against. Ryan is an award-winning scientist while Jason is frustated with being a physics teacher. The Apple TV series expands this Ryan's role, also making him the man behind the psychoactive compound needed to step into the Box and explore the universe. However, he never fully nails it on his own.
After analyzing the success of his counterpart from Jason2's reality, Ryan figures out how Lavender Wings works and is in relative awe of his other self for getting to the finish line with it. All that aside, it's important to remember that the Ryan who joins the team in Dark Matter season 2's penultimate episode is the one who already knew Jason at the beginning of season 1. Plus, this is the first time they've been together since then.
Most of what Ryan has to offer the team is his experience traversing the multiverse, but he's also a very intelligent individual who helps with brainstorming and ironing out the details as the best way forward begins to emerge.
Amanda Lucas traveled with Jason in Dark Matter season 1
Amanda (Alice Braga) has an arc in season 1 that is almost identical to that of her literary counterpart. The way she and Jason part ways is different in the adaptation, but her arc is otherwise mostly the same. Season 2 has allowed her storyline to continue and has now even reunited her with the exact same Jason she spent time with while he tried to get home.
Her native reality is the same one Jason2 is from, with the pair having a romantic relationship until Jason2 left to steal Jason's life. At Velocity, she was the on-staff psychologist who helped train the Box pilots for the psychological strain they'd need to enter the multiverse. As such, she's emotionally robust and figured out things about how the Box worked quicker than some of the other Dark Matter characters.
In terms of her role in the four-piece team Dark Matter season 2 just established, Amanda's primary skill set is a little redundant now. The other three have also traveled extensively in the Box and have gotten pretty good at it. Still, Amanda is a calming presence, an extra pair of hands, and very familiar with the universe where the original Box is located. She's a key asset.
Blair Caplan is the first ever Box pilot in Dark Matter canon
Blair's (Amanda Brugel) presence on the team makes things an even split between two universes. Just as Jason and Ryan share an origin, so do Amanda and Blair. The latter pair were colleagues and friends at Velocity while the Box was being built, with Amanda preparing Blair for its use. Despite feeling ready at the time, Blair quickly ran into some terrifying challenges as she tried and failed to get back home.
A little like Amanda, what Blair once offered as a unique upside in the team is now pretty universal among its members. Still, she's a seasoned multiverse traveller, and among the most motivated to make sure no one else going forward will witness the horrors the Box often presents. Similarly, as the only member of the team created specifically for the Apple TV series, she offers something especially fresh and exciting for the live-action Dark Matter adaptation in general.
Dark Matter is streaming now on Apple TV. Catch the season 2 finale on Friday, Oct. 30, 2026.
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