INTERVIEW: Looking into the future with co-creator of Syfy’s ‘Dark Matter’

Dark Matter, Syfy’s new space drama, follows a group of six people who wake up from a deep slumber with no memory. Not knowing their real names, they call one another One (Marc Bendavid), Two (Melissa O’Neil), Three (Anthony Lemke), Four (Alex Mallari Jr.), Five (Jodelle Ferland) and Six (Roger R. Cross). Their only help in figuring out their past is a helpful Android (Zoie Palmer), but soon enough they realize all is not what it seems. The six characters end up having violent, troubled pasts, and they may be on the run. Now they’re faced with the decision of a lifetime: seek redemption or revert to their sinister ways.

Joe Mallozzi, co-creator and executive producer of Dark Matter, knows sci-fi TV programming. He’s an esteemed alumnus of the Stargate franchise, and, in fact, his current show had its origins back when he was working on that classic TV series.

“I worked on a show called Stargate for many, many years, and, you know, the dream of any writer/producer is to eventually do your own show,” Mallozzi said recently during a phone interview. “It [Dark Matter] comprises a lot of elements that I like, specifically I guess flawed heroes. … I mean I always liked this idea of redemption. I just wanted to create a show that ends with a ‘holy crap’ moment at the end of the pilot. You know, present these characters as just kind of the worst of the worst, and then spend the rest of the series trying to rehabilitate them in the eyes of the viewer. And it’s a lot of fun. Like in real life, it’s not going to be a happy ending for everyone, but, you know, it’s fun in the journey. And as a big fan of cable television and the serialized format, I just wanted to create something like that for the sci-fi audience. It’s just something I don’t really see a lot in sci-fi. I mean I see it in fantasy with Game of Thrones or for The Walking Dead, but I’ve never seen a heavily serialized sci-fi series that just offers a lot of twists and turns as the series progresses.”

Mallozzi works alongside his producing and writing partner Paul Mullie. He was tight-lipped about specifics on where Dark Matter is headed, but he did allow some exciting bits of information. Here are some slight spoiler alerts.

“Well, at the end of the first episode, once we see all the mug shots [of the six], the reaction for the most part is those are our past lives,” Mallozzi said. “We don’t want to go back to that. We can start fresh. We’re new people now, and at the end of the day, you are what you made of yourself. It’s not that people can’t change, but at times it’s very, very difficult to do so. One of the things we set up, in the first episode, I mean these characters have no points of reference. They have no memories, so if anything they come across as these archetypes. And at the end of the episode they find out about their respective paths. They decide, you know, we’re going to change, and moving forward, you know, you begin to subvert these original concepts of these characters that you introduced in these first episodes.”

One example of this is the character of One (Bendavid), who may not be as bad as his violent past suggests. Five (Ferland) is similarly ambiguous when it comes to her classification as a benevolent or villainous character. “Then there are other characters who seem to have bad histories, and then as you get to know them, you think, ah, actually maybe they’re not as bad people either,” he said. “And then as the show develops you realize actually, no, these are very bad people. So I mean it’s going to be different for each character.”

The Android was originally envisioned as a male character; however, throughout the casting process, the co-creators were open to changes from their original idea (Dark Matter was first presented as a comic book series). “We opened the majority of roles to all genders and ethnicities,” Mazzolli said. “She [Palmer] just brought something very unique to the role. I mean we’ve seen the kind of innocent, awkward android before. She imbues it with kind of a childlike earnestness, and at times what’s interesting, when you see androids in the past … they tend to come across as immature but somehow lovable. But she presents also the other side of the coin, where there’s that kind of childlike petulance, and desire to belong and almost kind of the negative aspects of immaturity that you’ll see kind of peek out once in a while, especially in episode seven when they end up discovering an android and bringing the new android online.”

This new android is apparently “programmed for fun,” which is in stark contrast to Palmer’s character, who is programmed for work. “There’s a scene where the new android has prepared this fantastic meal, and our android comes into the cafeteria. And it’s clear she’s jealous.”

If it seems like Mazzolli has an idea exactly where the show and its characters are headed, it’s because he does. The two co-creators have mapped out Dark Matter and seem ready for more seasons of content.

“We started developing this way back when we were working on Stargate, and my reasoning was, OK, I’ll develop this series [so] that when Stargate [ends] I’ll go out with this series,” he said. “And Stargate kept on getting picked up, so really it’s been almost a decade in development. And in that time I’ve had a lot of time to really flesh out the characters and flesh out the journey, so ultimately I know where we’re going. I know the individual journeys. I know how each of the journeys is going to end. I know how the show is going to end.”

It took only a week and a half to chart the arcs of each episode in the first season. “We’re awaiting word on season two, but I know what season two is going to be,” he said. “I know what our individual stories are going to be. … So fans who tune in are going to be rewarded with answers, not all of the answers mind you. I mean some of the answers we’ll play with a season or two or more, but a lot of the big questions will be answered. For instance, in the first season, what’s behind the metal door? Why is One on the ship? What did these various characters do to get themselves on the ship, and ultimately the big question is, that’s presented very early on, is who wiped their memories and why? … It’s not going to be good news.”

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

• Dark Matter airs 10 p.m. Fridays on Syfy. Click here for more information.