Includes SPOILERS for The Gorge!
Dark Lake is a sinister organization in 2025’s Apple TV+ sci-fi thriller The Gorge, and there’s a lot to unpack about their operations. Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy lead The Gorge’s cast as Levi and Drasa, two private contractors and elite snipers who take the job to guard an undisclosed, mysterious location. Their job involves warding off “Hollow Men,” though they don’t know much else or bother to question the nature of their role. That is until they’re thrust directly into the Gorge and forced to face everything that’s happening.
The Gorge’s ending sees Levi and Drasa escape the situation, destroying the Gorge to end Dark Lake’s procedure, preventing future operatives from succumbing to the same fate they would have. While the central focus of this movie is the relationship between the two movie star leads, which develops from afar as they’re stationed at opposite ends of the Gorge, the pair also unravel some interesting lore that dates back to an operation at the end of World War II. For science fiction and mystery thriller lovers, this will be a crucial component of the movie.
Dark Lake Is Behind The Gorge’s Research, Not The Military
Dark Lake Is Conducting The Operation At The Gorge
The opening sequences of The Gorge set up the mission to feel like a typical movie military operation, introduced by Sigourney Weaver’s character, Bartholomew. The involvement of Sigourney Weaver, an actress known for her role as a female action hero in Alien, creates an inherent trust that Levi and Drasa are being brought to a worthwhile mission. The movie uses its casting choice to subvert expectations, as it’s quickly revealed that Bartholomew and her people are corrupt and evil. Levi and Drasa aren’t working for the military; they’re working for a group called Dark Lake.
As JD describes, the job is almost like protecting Earth from the entrance to Hell, but the movie’s twist is that the only reason it needs to be guarded is that Dark Lake wants to use it for wealth and power.
Dark Lake has been using human operatives and drones to conduct research and maintain the secrets of the Gorge for decades. The drones are used to gather intelligence and resources from highly contaminated and dangerous locations, while skilled humans are kept on the surface to protect the rest of the world from anything that comes out. As JD describes, the job is almost like protecting Earth from the entrance to Hell, but the movie’s twist is that the only reason it needs to be guarded is that Dark Lake wants to use it for wealth and power.
Dark Lake Is Taking Hybrid DNA Samples To Make Super Soldiers
In the contaminated space of the Gorge, there are all sorts of dangerous creatures, from the original Hollow Men to the many awful hybrids that have been formed. As shown in the film Levi and Drasa watch, the original experiment in the Gorge was the development of chemical missiles intended to rival the Manhattan Project, but an earthquake compromised the facility, contaminating its inhabitants. The remainder of the workers in the Gorge sought to contain the toxin, ultimately succumbing to it and becoming those horrible creatures.
As Levi states, Dark Lake is a “huge corporation specialized in genetic research.” Dark Lake wants to keep these things from reaching the outside world, primarily to keep it a secret while they take what they can without any interference. When Levi and Drasa are deep within the Gorge, they find a relatively recent operative station with 2000s-era computer equipment. There, they discover that Dark Lake’s plan is to use the hybrid DNA to create super soldiers.
How Dark Lake Manipulates The Snipers Hired To Guard The Gorge
Snipers Are Killed After Their Shift Ends
Dark Lake needs human soldiers to defend the Gorge, which is a crucial part of keeping their secret safe and allowing them to benefit from this mysterious source of power. They need highly trained operatives for the skills required to complete these year-long missions, but they can’t take directly from the military. Dark Lake uses private contractors, but they specifically target those who have absent personal lives. Levi has been deemed unable to partake in other operations, and Drasa only has her father, but not for very long. Neither candidate has anyone who would miss them, making them the perfect fit.
The Dark Lake snipers maintain their position on opposite ends of the Gorge, kept in isolation from one another. They’re not intended to be able to communicate or learn from each other, likely to prevent situations like what ends up happening in the movie. By remaining alone as the snipers are intended, they maintain the value Dark Lake intended for them, spending a year working a dangerous job with nothing to head home to. If they die, no questions will be asked. If they live… well, they die anyway.
As shown by JD, the operative whom Levi replaces, Dark Lake executes those who have completed their mission. The whole ordeal is a scam for those they hire, as they’re never going to make it out alive; Dark Lake is never going to let anyone live in the outside world with knowledge of the Gorge or anything the organization might be doing. They aren’t meant to know much in the first place, but even the knowledge that this location exists is too classified to slip free.
How Dark Lake Kept The Gorge & Their Research A Secret
Dark Lake Protects The Gorge With Satellites
Dark Lake takes extensive measures to keep its ongoing mission a secret. This includes, of course, the execution of their hired mercenaries after one year of work, preventing information from escaping the Gorge. They also use drones to transport DNA from the Gorge, limiting the use of human work. If the world, or even world governments, found out about this location, it would create a mᴀssive race to harvest its technological potential. By keeping the secret, Dark Lake monopolizes that potential.
The most effective way of protecting the region is through satellite blocking. There are several dishes placed in positions to shield the Gorge and the operation from a space satellite. The moment Levi and Drasa destroy those dishes, Bartholomew is concerned about outside sources discovering the Gorge, immediately announcing that it’s been exposed. The Gorge ends with the entire place being destroyed, suggesting that Dark Lake will no longer be able to access its potential regardless.
