Apple’s sci-fi thriller Dark Matter is back in August

Over the last few years summer has turned out to be a great time for new streaming sci-fi, and 2026 is shaping up to be much the same. Apple just announced that its multiversal thriller Dark Matter is coming back for its second season, which will start streaming on August 28th. Season 2 will span 10 episodes and wrap up in October.

Adapted from Blake Crouch’s novel of the same name, Dark Matter first premiered in 2024, and it follows the story of physics professor Jason Dessen (Joel Edgerton) who gets abducted by, well, himself, but a version from another timeline. There’s a whole lot of alternate reality drama going on, and it sounds like that will continue in the new season. According to Apple’s official description, the story picks up with Jason’s family “as they settle into a quiet life in a world that finally seems safe until the unimaginable forces them to run once again.”

As part of the announcement, Apple also released a batch of first-look photos for season 2:

Of course, Dark Matter isn’t the only returning sci-fi series on Apple TV. For All Mankind is currently in the midst of its penultimate season, with a spinoff set to debut in May, and the latest season of Godzilla spinoff Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is also streaming right now. Meanwhile, the secretly sci-fi detective series Sugar is coming back for a second season in June.

Apple has made the genre a key part of its streaming service, though of late the company has also been pushing for a larger audience, as seen in its hefty 2026 lineup of shows.