Dark Matter (2024 TV series)

Jason Dessen, a college physics professor, lives with his wife Daniela and son Charlie in Chicago. When his friend Ryan wins the prestigious Pavia prize, Jason attends his celebration at a local bar (the Village Tap). As he's walking back home, he is held at gunpoint and abducted by a masked man who takes him to a building site, forces him to remove his clothes and surrender his phone, and injects him with an unknown substance which gradually renders him unconscious. When he awakes, Jason finds himself in a laboratory facility (Velocity Labs) where he meets lab psychiatrist Amanda Lucas and Velocity CEO Leighton Vance — who he recognizes — both of whom are delighted that he has "returned". Uncertain and disoriented, Jason escapes the lab and returns to his house, where he again meets Amanda, who says she lives there with him; the interior décor of the house is completely different, and there is no sign of Daniela or Charlie. Meanwhile, Jason's abductor is revealed to be another version of himself (Jason #02), who enters Jason #01's house and seduces Daniela.

The Velocity team scrambles to find Jason #01 while he checks himself into a hospital, where he learns he's a world-renowned physicist who hasn't been seen in public for over a year and there is a mysterious psychoactive compound in his system. Escaping impending psychiatric confinement, he manages to track down Daniela — now a successful artist — at her latest art exhibition. She tells Jason #01 that he (in fact, Jason #02) approached her before his disappearance and confided his regrets regarding ending their relationship long ago and the possibility that she would never see him again. Despite being puzzled and concerned, Daniela agrees to help Jason #01 resolve the discrepancies he's identified in his life and environment. He realizes the paths between the Jasons diverged when Daniela became pregnant, when Jason #01 decided to stay and Jason #02 decided to leave. Meanwhile, despite initially struggling, Jason #02 settles into his blissful life with Daniela and Charlie.

Dawn (Velocity security) breaks into Daniela's condo, kills her, and captures Jason #01. He agrees to work with Velocity, claiming he wants to regain his memories. Jason #01 studies Jason #02's research and realizes Jason #02 had discovered a method to travel between alternate dimensions by sealing the traveler inside a metal box and injecting them with a chemical compound to inhibit areas of the prefrontal cortex and induce a state of superposition inside the box. Meanwhile, Jason #02 becomes uneasy about Ryan's presence at his house in Jason #01's world.

Jason #01 tries to procure more information about Jason #02's research from Ryan in Jason #02's world. Jason #01 is eventually discovered as an imposter by Leighton, who tries to force the truth out of him, and Ryan from Jason #02's world is implied to be killed. Amanda breaks Jason #01 out of confinement, hoping to return him to his own world, but when they are discovered, they both enter Jason #02's box, intending to flee. Inside it, they inject the chemical compound and find themselves transported to a corridor with doors on either side. Leighton follows them into the box. In Jason #01's world, Daniela notices Jason #02's change in personality, but he claims it is due to clarity achieved as a result of a near-death experience.

Jason #01 and Amanda find themselves in an infinite corridor with doors leading to infinite alternate realities. They use the ampoules and go through numerous doors hoping to find Jason #01's reality, but every world they visit happens to be desolate and ruined. They find themselves in a frozen Chicago, where after rescuing Amanda from a blizzard and while recuperating, the pair realizes that the doors respond to their overall mental state when opening them.

Meanwhile, Jason #02 quits his job and approaches Leighton in Jason #01's world, hoping to procure funding. After Jason #02 previews the box's capabilities and explains its function, Leighton agrees to pay Jason #02 a lot of money in return for providing him with ampoules. Daniela and Charlie discuss Jason's (in fact, Jason #02's) change in demeanor after he missed their deceased son Max's remembrance, while Jason #01 and Amanda bond inside the box, and an injured Leighton from Jason #02's world emerges from the box to a devastated world.

Jason #01 and Amanda enter a world where Blair from Jason #02/Amanda's world, a lab employee who went missing after volunteering to enter the box months before, resides. Blair reveals that despite living in a world riddled with constant danger, she does not want to risk returning to the box until she is ready, believing it is nearly impossible to navigate the reality corridor. She also cautions Amanda to figure out her own path forward while aiding Jason #01 in his search for his reality. Despite trying to keep their intentions clear and emotions checked when opening the doors, Jason #01 and Amanda continue to find themselves in uninhabitable and hostile worlds. They visit a world engulfed by a deadly plague where Charlie died and Daniela is dying. Next, they visit a world in which Jason is an incarcerated criminal; when Jason #01 visits his home, Daniela calls the police and he is assaulted by Charlie.

Meanwhile, in Jason #01's world, Jason #02 reveals to Daniela that he quit his job and encourages her to do the same. She begins to feel left out of their marriage. To secure Leighton's funding, Jason #02 visits his own world to procure more ampoules, and learns that Jason #01 and Amanda escaped via the box.

At Jason #02's behest, Daniela starts painting again. Unaware of Charlie's nut allergy, Jason #02 accidentally feeds him nuts. At the emergency room, Daniela notices needle marks on Jason #02's arm and later confides in Blair, who suggests Daniela should follow him. After Jason #02 embarrasses her by displaying an unfinished painting at a charity auction, she overcomes her initial reluctance and follows him to his storage unit, finds the ampoules, and enlists Ryan's help in discovering the compound within.

Meanwhile, Jason #01 tries to describe his world in writing to focus his mind to better his and Amanda's chances of finding his reality, but they still end up visiting worlds similar but not identical to his own. Exhausted, they take time to rest and explore their surroundings separately. Meanwhile, Jason #02 meets Jason #01's world's Amanda for a therapy session. Ryan confronts Jason #02, believing that he stole his research, as he synthesized the same compound Daniela provided from Jason #02's storage unit. After discussing their compounds' separate applications, Jason #02 takes Ryan via the box to an alternate, more progressive Chicago, where Jason #02 strands Ryan. Jason #02 then returns to Jason #01's world and encloses the box with concrete.

Daniela becomes suspicious of Jason #02. A detective visits the Dessen household twice to inquire about Ryan, who was reported missing by his girlfriend, as Ryan was last seen with Jason #02 before his disappearance. Daniela confronts Jason #02 about the drug, and to appease her, he admits the truth about the basic purpose of the drug, but does not mention Ryan, Jason #01, or the box and his travel to alternate realities. He then reopens the box and uses it to replace Ryan with another from a different world.

On Amanda's professional recommendation, she and Jason #01 visit a kinder and more progressive Chicago for a break from their month-long fight-or-flight state of being. Amanda claims that to choose the world, she did not think about people, but of ideas and concepts that would make a world worth experiencing. They explore the world, separate, and meet at an upscale restaurant, where Amanda reveals that she has decided to stay behind. She invites Jason #01 to do the same, to no avail. After they share a goodbye, Jason #01 starts using his ampoules in more attempts to return to his world, which he does using his last ampoule. Before confronting Jason #02, Jason #01 visits a store to buy self-protection gear. After he leaves, a Jason who appears almost identical to Jason #01 enters the store.

Jason #02 is attacked at dusk by a Jason who returned to the world, but Jason #02 subdues and kills him. Daniela visits Ryan, who claims to be a mechanic and Daniela one of his clients. When asked where his memory ends, he mentions having drinks with someone Daniela confirms is Jason via a photo. From his hotel, Jason #01 is spotted and followed by another Jason. When he bolts inside the Village Tap to lose him, he meets yet another Jason (Jason #03) there having a drink. Jason #01 concludes that every decision he made while inside the box created another Jason, and those who made the right choices have ended up back in his world. After discussing whether and how to kill Jason #02, Jason #03 leaves the bar, warning Jason #01 not to interfere with his reunion with his family.

Jason #02 takes Charlie for a tour of the University of Chicago, and spots another Jason following them. He sends Charlie away, lures the other Jason into an empty washroom, and strangles him. Jason #01 lets himself be arrested for smoking inside a restaurant to get Daniela alone with him. She eventually comes to believe his account, and promises to meet him with Charlie by the Cloud Gate; they agree on the safe word Jupiter. After Daniela incapacitates Jason #02, she and Charlie flee the house and two other Jasons along the way, and reunite with Jason #01.

The Dessens take refuge at the rural holiday residence of one of Charlie's friends. They catch up, and Jason #01 and Daniela retune their relationship. Jason #01 finds an online message forum where Jasons who have arrived in his world try to decide who will get to stay with Daniela and Charlie. Daniela later sends a message informing the Jasons that she has chosen Jason #01. Jason #03 arrives at the Dessen residence, attacks and restrains Jason #02, and lures Blair into the house, hoping to have her track her car (which she had lent to Jason #01) to find the Dessens. She arrives at the house and finds the bruised Jason #02 inside a closet. When Jason #03 tries to force her to comply, she overpowers him and elicits the truth.

Several Jasons invade the Dessens' hideout, and some are killed by each other. Jason #02 arrives, saves Jason #01, and helps the Dessens escape. In the car, Jason #02 left the family a box of ampoules and an audio recording in which he apologizes for his actions. Realizing they are no longer safe in this world, the Dessens decide to find a better world for themselves and arrive at the box's location to find the area crowded with Jasons. Some Jasons convince the others to let the Dessens go. They arrive at the reality corridor and walk through a doorway. Meanwhile, Blair from from Jason #02/Amanda's world prepares to reenter the box, Leighton from Jason #01's world enters it and injects another ampoule, and in the progressive Chicago, Amanda is approached by Ryan, who appears to have been preparing and/or testing a chemical, possibly that used in the ampoules.