The second season of His Dark Materials is on the way! After a solid first season, HBO is ready to adapt the second book in Philip Pullman’s fantasy trilogy, The Subtle Knife. It’s probably the best book in the trilogy, and I’m expecting this season to be a step up from what came before.
If you’re recall, season 1 ended with Lyra Belacqua (Dafne Keen) following her scientist father Lord Asriel (James McAvoy) into another reality…right after he killed her best friend to open the door in the first place. Lyra doesn’t have the best luck with parents; both Asriel and Mrs. Coulter (Ruth Wilson) are kind of awful.
Meanwhile, in “our” reality, young Will Parry (Amir Wilson) steps through a different tear in reality. What happens next? Well, if you’ve read the book, you know that they meet up in a strange third place, the mysterious abandoned city of Cittàgazze:
Image: His Dark Materials/HBO Image: His Dark Materials/HBO Image: His Dark Materials/HBO
Was Lyra always wearing those overalls or does she find them? That’s the real cliffhanger here.
Image: His Dark Materials/HBO
The adventure will start in Cittàgazze, which is why I don’t feel too bad talking about it up front, but Lyra and Will go on some pretty wild adventures before it’s done.
We’ll be introduced to several new characters in season 2, the most important of which is probably the physicist Dr. Mary Malone (Simone Kirby):
Image: His Dark Materials/HBO
Lyra pays Mary a visit and…well, you’ll see. I imagine some of these images are set in Dr. Malone’s lab:
Image: His Dark Materials/HBO Image: His Dark Materials/HBO Image: His Dark Materials/HBO
But we’ve got old characters returning as well, including the witch Serafina Pekkala (Ruta Gedmintas)…
Image: His Dark Materials/HBO
…and the Texan aeronaut Lee Scoresby (Lin-Manuel Miranda), who’s looking a little worse for wear these days:
Image: His Dark Materials/HBO Image: His Dark Materials/HBO
His Dark Materials season 2 comes out “this fall.” That’s all we know so far…
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