His Dark Materials season 2 will be “bigger, better, darker…a lot darker”
His Dark Materials was HBO’s hit fantasy show of fall 2019, the first new one since Game of Thrones wrapped up earlier that year. But in terms of world-building and storylines, the series felt much milder than Game of Thrones, which it inevitably found itself being compared to after GoT’s history-making eight-season run came to an end. But things began to look grim for Lyra (Dafne Keen) toward the end of the first season, which found her failing to save her best friend from a horrible fate at the hands of her own father, Lord Asriel (James McAvoy). And if star Amir Wilson is to be believed, things are only going to get darker.
Wilson, who plays Will Parry, spoke to RadioTimes.com about keeping his role a secret, as well as what fans can expect from the upcoming going forward. Given that Will’s character doesn’t appear until the second installment in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials book series, his inclusion in the first season came as a surprise to many longtime fans. For that reason, Wilson had to keep his part in the show under wraps, which apparently was no easy feat. “It was quite hard, because obviously I’d talk about the show, and say that I was involved in it, but no one knew that I was involved with season one, so it was quite hard to keep it a secret,” said Wilson. “So when it came out, it was a big relief.”
While Will’s early appearance in the HBO series marks a deviation from the book series, it does help set things up for fans, preparing them for Will and Lyra’s travels to other worlds, something that can get confusing even if you have kept up with the books.
With the two of them on the verge of huge journeys, the show’s stakes are about to ratchet up. “It’s bigger, better, darker. A lot darker,” Wilson explained. “Three words to describe it? I’d say adventure, bravery…and knives.”
It’s hard to imagine things getting darker than poor Roger’s fate at the end of last season, but we’ll take Wilson’s word for it. As for his description, we’ve seen plenty of adventure and bravery leading up to this point, so that’s much of a surprise. And those who know the title of Pullman’s second book — The Subtle Knife — won’t be taken aback by the final word either. Yes, it’s finally time for Will to fight for a certain magical object.
“The knife fight. That’s my favorite part,” Wilson said. “We had a lot of stunt training for the fight, yeah.”
It’ll be exciting to see the final shot of this scene when the second season finally airs. Currently, it’s expected out this fall, meaning we don’t have long to wait to find out what Will and Lyra do next.
Next. Dafne Keen gushes about His Dark Materials’ Lyra. dark
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