His Dark Materials, a group effort by HBO and the BBC to adapt Philip Pullman’s book series for TV, is a hit, watched by an average of about 5 million people an episode. “One of the things that I was hoping and the numbers we’re seeing bear this out, it is more of a co-viewing show than we’ve ever had,” HBO programming president Casey Bloys told Deadline. “We don’t have many shows where kids and parents can watch together and that was the idea with this show and it has done really well.”
Although I had problems with the way the show was paced, it at least ended strong, suggesting better days ahead. And we’re definitely getting more show. The first season was based on The Northern Lights, the first novel in Pullman’s trilogy. It followed the spirited Lyra Belacqua (Dafne Keen) as she uncovered a conspiracy involving the repressive religious order that rules her world. Since the story involves children in the main roles, HBO and the BBC went ahead and started filming a second season before the first even aired, this one an adaptation of The Subtle Knife. We’re not sure exactly how far along that is, but they’ve been at it a while, so shooting is probably done or close to done.
“Season two is just coming in and I think once we get season two, we’ll talk about season three and what it would look like,” Bloys said. “We obviously have to talk to the BBC.”
Hopefully he doesn’t wait that long. With filming on season 2 probably pretty much done, chances seem good that we could get it this year, which is important to maintaining momentum. I wouldn’t want an adaptation of The Amber Spyglass, the third book in the series, to lag far behind if they can avoid it. But if production on season 3 gets rolling before season 2 airs, we probably won’t have much of a gap.
Still, it’s kind of curious that seasons 1 and 2 seemed pre-approved but HBO is waiting to give a greenlight to more episodes. It is true that ratings were weaker at the end of the season than at the start, but the interest is there.
If this team does adapt The Amber Spyglass, executive producer Jane Tranter wants it to be split into two seasons, on account of the final book being “huge” and “sprawling.” It’s true that The Amber Spyglass is the longest book in the trilogy, so that makes some sense. What do we think?
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