Apple TV+'s New Sci-Fi Show Reveals The Dark Truth About Bill Murray's Groundhog Day Character

Warning! This post contains spoilers for Apple TV+’s Dark Matter.

Bill Murray’s character gets a positive ending in Groundhog Day, but an Apple TV+ show reveals one dark truth behind his story. Often recalled as one of the first films that popularized the time-loop trope, Groundhog Day walks through a feel-good romantic drama that is both amusing and sentimental. While the film’s loopy narrative is enough to keep one intrigued, it is Bill Murray’s performance that allows it to become a lot more than a simple gimmicky comedy.

However, even though Groundhog Day maintains a steady diet of uplifting themes and hilarious moments, there are aspects of its story that dabble with darker ideas. These ideas may not be visible on the surface, but upon closer inspection, it is hard not to notice how the movie shares some deeper existential undertones with a new Apple TV+ sci-fi show. The new Apple TV+ series in question belongs to a slightly different sci-fi sub-genre but still reveals how Groundhog Day could have been a completely different film.

Jason2’s Dark Matter Story Is A Reminder Of How Things Could Have Ended For Groundhog Day’s Phil

Phil Turned His Life Around Before It Was Too Late

Apple TV+’s Dark Matter is a multiversal drama that portrays two alternate versions of the same character. While one, Jason1, is an ordinary college professor but has a loving family, the other, Jason2, has achieved major highs in his career but regrets his decision to leave his former lover. Therefore, to overturn his past mistakes, Jason2 travels to Jason1’s universe and switches places with him to acquire his life. Little does Jason2 realize that merely swapping lives with his alternate self will not solve his problems. In Groundhog Day, Bill Murray’s Phil faces a similar dilemma.

Much like Jason2, Phil is unwilling to live with the consequences of his own choices. Like Jason2 escapes to another world to restart his life and do whatever he wishes, Phil embraces his time loops and sees them as an opportunity to fulfill his own desires. Both characters live selfish lives, caring little about the impact of their actions on others. Fortunately, Phil, like Jason1, eventually realizes that living with regret is far better than running away from it. Jason2, in contrast, remains on a downward spiral, repeating his past mistakes despite getting a fresh start. Phil could have been Jason2 — doomed to repeat his errors indefinitely.

Groundhog Day’s Positive Ending Offers Hope For Jason1’s Dark Matter Future

Jason1’s Good Intentions Will Lead Him To His Family

The optimistic end of Phil’s story in Groundhog Day highlights that compassion and selflessness will always lead one to the best possible outcome. Therefore, just as Phil eventually closes his time-loop by loving someone more than himself, Jason1 will also likely find his way back to his family in his original universe because, unlike Jason2, he is driven by his selfless love for them. Jason2, in contrast, will remain stuck in his loop of regret until he learns to live with the consequences of his actions and values the people around him in Apple TV+’s Dark Matter.

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  Dark Matter (2024)

  Based on his novel of the same name, Dark Matter is a sci-fi drama-thriller television series created for Apple TV+ by Blake Crouch. The series follows a physicist who is kidnapped and thrown into an alternate reality where he witnesses one potential path his life could have taken. However, he learns that the lives of his family are in jeopardy by an alternate version of himself.

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  Groundhog Day

  In Groundhog Day, the arrogant weatherman Phil Connors (Bill Murray) finds himself living the exact same day over and over for what feels like an eternity. To cope with his curse, he learns a variety of skills in the town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, and tries to earn the heart of his colleague Rita Hanson (Andie MacDowell) while he adapts to the time loop.