Teaser For ‘His Dark Materials’ Shows Another Attempt To Adapt The Fantasy Novel Trilogy

Phillip Pullman’s massive fantasy novel trilogy is once again being adapted into the live-action format with BBC One’s His Dark Materials. The series features the journey of two children through different worlds as they encounter witches, fantastical creatures, and other wondrous beings. The novel series has been applauded for its themes and morals, focusing on the concepts of theology, philosophy, and conveying the ideas through entertaining fiction for young minds. The series has won much praise and international critical acclaim.

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, His Dark Materials is part of a new series being distributed internationally by HBO, as seen in the teaser of their 2019 line up of shows. BBC One has released their own teaser for the show on their YouTube channel. His Dark Materials stars Dafne Keen (Logan), Ruth Wilson (Luther), James McAvoy (Glass) and Lin-Manuel Miranda (Mary Poppins Returns) as its principal cast of characters. The teaser shows a familiar world, steeped in real life, but teases otherworldly mysteries. Given that it’s a teaser, it feels that a lot, including the major hook or intrigue of the show, has been held back, possibly for an official trailer closer to its release.

Despite His Dark Materials sounding like an intriguing concept, the source material by Phillip Pullman has already had a Hollywood adaptation over 10 years ago. The Golden Compass, released in 2007, was an adaptation of the first book in the fantasy series, produced by New Line Cinema.

The film starred a mainstream cast with a big budget helmed by a critically acclaimed director. However, The Golden Compass failed to live up to the studio’s financial expectations, dashing all hopes for any future sequels or opportunities for a franchise. The film featured Daniel Craig in the same role that McAvoy has been cast as in the series, along with Nicole Kidman playing the same role as Wilson, Sam Elliot in Miranda’s role, along with other Hollywood heavyweights such as Ian McKellen, Kathy Bates, Eva Green, and Ian McShane. His Dark Materials may be better suited to the format of the source material, as adapting a novel series into a TV series offers more fluidity in storytelling, as Game Of Thrones has proven.

The teaser for His Dark Materials shows an intensely dramatic series with incredibly brooding scenes of its actors, and not a lot of the fantastical elements the source material is known for. This is in stark contrast to the bright and larger than life scope that The Golden Compass had depicted.

His Dark Materials is coming soon to HBO.