Regarding Alice: As I understand it, it's them guiding each other out of the darkness. Obviously we don't know exactly where the story starts or where the loop begins (if it includes the events of the first game as well) but Alice gets trapped in the dark place in AW1 and she kept seeing his light while he was looking for her in the "real" world. At the end - he takes her place and she manages to get out. So he spends 13 years in the dark place, trying to figure a way out, write himself out, write himself to get back to her. That's when the "haunting" started, when Alice got in touch with the FBC and started to remember her own time being trapped in the dark place. So she was guiding Alan with her photos and video messages to get him on HIS path and make him realize that he's trapped in a spiral, meaning he's not just stuck in a loop and things differ every time the cycle begins again. So now with him remembering this and with the information Alice gave him in her last video in the original ending, he was able to rewrite the ending for "Return" in a way that means ascension for them ouf of the spiral while still making sense for the story he was writing so it could become true. Or at least... that's how I understand it. :D That last video of Tom Zane (Ilkka Villi) and Dr. Darling (Matthew Porretta) meeting could just be a fun meta joke of them since these 2 are in fact both Alan Wake in face and voice but after everything Remedy did with Alan Wake 2, I could also see them hinting that this is actually how Alan Wake came into existence. Zane and Darling collaborating to create a character that gets them out of this nightmare dimension by basing him on Thomas Zane, an artist but with the clarity and willpower of a scientist. Might sound crazy but this entire game was just crazy so who knows?

7:38 well, technically he is Alan's voice :D So Alan has Tom's look and Darling's voice... huh :D

Hey! Glad I was able to help! So, in case you didn't know, Matthew Poretta (the voice actor for Alan) plays Dr.Casper Darling! So, it makes it super meta and hilarious that Dr.Darling comments on Alan sounding like him. 😂

Also, at the end of Control, Dr.Darling's final message, people were blown away at finding out Dr.Darling was fucking ripped. Lmao So, the video of Dr.Darling meeting Tom Zane, they were basically poking fun at the fanbase for the overwhelming amount of thirst that there is for Dr.Darling now. Hence, why there is a couple seconds of Dr.Darling in his skivvies at the beginning of the video. But, besides that, the implications of Dr.Darling and Tom collaborating is very worrisome. There are a lot of different theories floating around about Zane. Most people agree that this version of Zane is a very "bad" one, and if he's working with poor naive Dr.Darling, the results could be catastrophic. I think it was also just a cool way for Ilkka and Matthew to be able to act together in a scene as different characters, rather than as Alan. This is the first time we're seeing them act together. Special moment, for sure. But, scary at the same time. 😂😅

Regarding the Alice thing, the way I see it, is Alice basically took on the role of the "Bright Presence" from the first game. Guiding Alan to the point to where he essentially became enlightened. Now, with that end quote "The master of many worlds" It leaves exhilarating possibilities of where Alan's story will go. He's out of the dark place and ascended. He's a powerful mofo now, and I'm stoked to see where this will go.

Uh-oh, Tom has Dr Darling. That can't be good ...