Sir Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy is finally getting a second attempt at film adaptation. Thankfully this time, HBO and BBC have teamed up to do the fantasy property justice. Especially after the failure of the movie adaptation The Golden Compass 12 years ago.
Now at San Diego Comic Con, HBO has unveiled the series’ first full trailer. Showing plenty of details that fans of the book will recognize. Including the character’s daemons and the introduction of Iorek Byrnison, the armored bear.
Who is in the Cast of His Dark Materials?
Dafne Keen will be playing the lead character Lyra Belacqua. Most fans will know her as Laura aka X-23 from Logan (2013). In The Golden Compass, Lyra was played by Dakota Blue Richards.
Ruth Wilson will be playing the mysterious Marisa Coulter, originally played by Nicole Kidman. James McAvoy will be portraying Lyra’s caretaker Lord Asriel, which was played by Daniel Craig in the movie.
Lin-Manuel Miranda is playing the American adventurer Lee Scoresby this time (originally played by . Meanwhile Ruta Gedmintas will be playing Serafina Pekkala, the queen of the witches (portrayed in the film by Eva Green).
Will There Be a Second Season?
His Dark Materials consists of three different books: The Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. So the TVs series will most likely split along those lines as well. Whether a second and third season will happen is up to the show’s success. It would certainly be nice to see some of the awesome fantastical elements from Subtle Knife and Amber Spyglass on the screen. Especially the epic battles with armoured bears, and the billion-man army vs angels led by Metatron.
From the trailer, it is obvious that they have made some changes in terms of modernizing the story. The original mostly set the story in an alternate reality Victorian Era England. The new HBO and BBC adaptation however, appears to be set in a more modern time. Albeit with some hangover Victorian elements.
His Dark Materials will premiere sometime in Fall 2019.
