Joel Edgerton asked for a role in new Apple sci-fi series Dark Matter because he's a fan of the book

Dark Matter creator Blake Crouch says star Joel Edgerton asked to be cast in Apple's TV adaptation.

"Joel read the book and heard there was a show in the works, so his was an incoming call which almost never happens,"  the author, who acts as showrunner, head writer, and executive producer on the show, tells SFX magazine in the new issue, which features Doctor Who on the cover.

Based on Crouch's bestselling novel, the sci-fi series sees Edgerton play Jason Dessen, a physicist and family man who is abducted on the streets of Chicago one night while walking home, and subsequently thrown into an alternate version of his life. As Jason tries to navigate this sudden nightmare, he slowly begins to realize that he was kidnapped by an alternate universe version of himself.

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"The idea of him stepping into this and really just embracing it was super appealing to me," continues Crouch. "When we talked, he kept mentioning '80s-era Harrison Ford, that kind of a vibe which I thought was really exciting."

The cast also includes Jennifer Connelly, Alice Braga, Jimmi Simpson, Oakes Fegley, Dayo Okeniyi, and Amanda Brugel. Invasion director Jakob Verbruggen helms the first three episodes, with WandaVision and The Marvels writer Megan McDonnell writing episodes four and five. Previously, Crouch penned The Wayward Pines trilogy, which was adapted into a Fox TV series starring Matt Dillon and Carla Gugino back in 2015, though he only served as executive producer on that adaptation.

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The first two episodes of Dark Matter will hit Apple TV Plus on May 8, with the rest of the season airing weekly after that. The above is just a snippet from our interview, available in the latest issue of SFX magazine, which features Doctor Who on the cover and is available on newsstands from Wednesday, April 17. 

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