His Dark Materials (TV series)


His Dark Materials is a fantasy drama television series based on the novel series of the same name by Philip Pullman. It is produced by Bad Wolf and New Line Productions, for BBC One and HBO, with the latter handling international distribution.
The eight-episode first series premiered on 3 November 2019 on BBC One in the United Kingdom and on 4 November on HBO in the United States and other markets. Before the series premiered, His Dark Materials was renewed for a second series, which is set to consist of seven episodes.

Premise

His Dark Materials is set in a multi-world reality, with the action moving from one world to another. The story begins in an alternate world where all humans have animal companions called dæmons, which are manifestations of the human soul. The series follows the life of a young girl named Lyra who is an orphan living with the scholars at Jordan College, Oxford. As in Pullman's novel, Lyra discovers a dangerous secret that involves Lord Asriel and Marisa Coulter. In her search for a missing friend, Lyra also uncovers a series of kidnappings and its link to a mysterious substance called Dust, which leads her on a journey of epic proportions and will lead to her crossing paths with a boy named Will.

Cast

Main

Series 1

Additionally, lead puppeteer Brian Fisher provides the uncredited vocalisations for Mrs Coulter's monkey daemon.

Episodes

Production

Development

The three His Dark Materials novels, written by Philip Pullman from 1995 to 2000, achieved success in young-adult fiction, leading to the development of a 2007 feature film, The Golden Compass. The film received criticism from fans of the trilogy for the dilution of elements of the story that were critical of religion, as well as from some religious organisations for the source material's perceived anti-religious themes. When the film was released, sequels that would have adapted the other two novels in the series became unlikely due to the backlash from religious groups and the film's disappointing reception, according to Pullman.
After several years, the rights reverted to Pullman. In November 2015, BBC One announced that it had commissioned a television adaptation of the trilogy, to be produced by Bad Wolf and New Line Cinema. The eight-part adaptation had a planned premiere date in 2017. In April 2017 writer Jack Thorne told Radio Times that the series was still in pre-production. He said, "It's at an exciting point where we're just throwing things at the page and trying to work out what works and what doesn't", and that he wanted to ensure that they were being loyal to the books. Director Otto Bathurst explained that some elements of the book and film had been changed to give the series a more modern feel, compared to the original's Victoriana fantasy.
On 12 September 2018, HBO was announced as the co-producer and international distributor of the series. On 10 October 2018, Miranda reported that he had wrapped up filming for his role. On 14 December 2018, it was announced that filming for the first series had wrapped.
Before the series premiered, His Dark Materials was renewed for a second series of eight episodes, which is primarily adapting the second book in the trilogy — The Subtle Knife. Filming of the second season began before the premiere of the first season, which was considered "a necessary move considering the age of the show's young star". While filming for series 2 was mostly completed before the COVID-19 pandemic, a standalone episode focusing on Lord Asriel was left unfinished. Consequently, the series ultimately only consisted of seven episodes, with James McAvoy appearing in a reduced capacity.

Casting

On 8 March 2018, it was announced that Dafne Keen had signed on to star in the series to play Lyra with director Tom Hooper signed on to direct. Lin-Manuel Miranda would star as Lee Scoresby. On 8 June 2018, it was reported that James McAvoy, Clarke Peters, and Ruth Wilson had joined the cast.
On 27 July 2018, the BBC and Bad Wolf revealed the cast and crew for the series.
On 1 July 2020, it was revealed that Bella Ramsey had been casted for the role of Angelica. Additionally, Oliver Monaghan and I-Kay Agu would appear in the second season as the pair of angels Baruch and Balthamos.

Music

On 14 August 2019, it was announced that Lorne Balfe was hired to score the series. Speaking about the job, Balfe stated that he "wanted to write a musical letter to the creators of the show," also mentioning that the series was a "mammoth task" and one of his biggest projects yet. Scoring primarily took place in St David's Hall in Cardiff, Wales with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. While the ethnic Bulgarian choir was recorded in Bulgaria with additional remote sessions taking place at the Synchron Scoring Stage in Vienna, Austria with the Synchron Stage Orchestra. Also featured on the score are cellist Tina Guo, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, classical French horn player Sarah Willis, violinist Lindsey Stirling and recordist Richard Harvey. Two soundtrack albums were released; a musical anthology with thematic pieces and an album containing all the cues used in the series. Silva Screen Records released the albums digitally on 3 November 2019 and 20 December 2019 respectively.

Release

On 24 July 2019, it was announced that the series would premiere in the fourth quarter of 2019 in the United Kingdom and the United States. On 12 September 2019, sources revealed that the series was set to premiere on 3 November 2019 on BBC One and the following night on HBO.
In New Zealand, the series is broadcast by Sky TV and is available on streaming service Neon. The series began on 5 November 2019. In Australia, the series is distributed by the cable and satellite television company Foxtel through their HBO output deal.

Reception

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the series has an approval rating of 80% based on reviews from 94 critics, with an average rating of 7.01/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "The daemon is in the details and while His Dark Materials visual splendor and exceptional performances deftly capture the essence of Philip Pullman's seminal novels, it could use a little more magic." On Metacritic, the series has a score of 69 out of 100 based on reviews from 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Dan Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that "...this effort nails much of what makes the books pop, and both the special effects and a star-studded cast led by Dafne Keen and Ruth Wilson are in fine form." However he followed that by saying "What never fully worked for me in the four episodes sent to critics is the necessary feeling of narrative and thematic momentum. It's vastly better than the movie, but neither fun nor smart enough to quite succeed." Caroline Framke of Variety wrote: "Despite the rich complexities of the novel’s world of daemons, power-hungry players and warring faiths, HBO’s His Dark Materials feels like it could have been plucked from most any other fantasy epic out there." Beth Elderkin of Gizmodo was critical of the show's inability to capture the connection between humans and daemons.
Ben Lawrence of The Telegraph gave the first episode 4 out of 5 stars, calling it "a fine piece of drama, capturing the strangeness and childlike wonder of the books, but also their rigour and bite. This is intelligent populism writ large." Huw Fullerton of the Radio Times gave the first episode a positive review: "While there is a slight element of table-setting in the series' first hour the appeal of the actors and setting are beguiling enough to pull you through all the exposition and explanation." Fullerton praised Wilson for her performance, saying she "nearly walks away with the whole series". David Levesley of British GQ wrote that His Dark Materials as a whole illustrates the fundamental problem with remaking adaptations, writing "the execution doesn’t feel far enough removed from the previous version to actually make for a significantly better product."

Accolades