Official teaser for His Dark Materials, from the BBC and HBO

Once upon a time, 12 years ago, New Line Cinema adapted the first book in Philip Pullman’s tenderly imagined His Dark Materials trilogy as The Golden Compass, and it was muddled and toothless and no one liked it. Now, HBO and the BBC are trying their hand at adapting the same material as a TV series, and this time it’s gonna work; I can feel it. Judge for yourself with the show’s first official trailer:

So pretty much all this tells us is the cast, but I like where they’re going. You may remember Dafne Keen nearly managing to steal the show from Hugh Jackman in Logan, where she played the young mutant Laura. She’s the perfect choice for the rambunctious Lyra. Meanwhile, Ruth Wilson brings the crazy eyes she used so well on Luther to the role of Mrs. Coulter, who could use a bit of mania, and the always solid James McAvoy plays the key role of Lord Astriel. The only decision I’m not quite sure about is Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda as ballooning Texan Lee Scoresby, but I’ll at least give him a chance.

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His Dark Materials is one of several upcoming genre shows that has the chance to fill the void after Game of Thrones goes off the air in the next couple months. The source material is good, the cast is good, the pedigree is good. C’mon, guys, follow through.

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