How His Dark Materials season 2 reflects real-world issues
His Dark Materials writer Jack Thorne teases what’s to come in season 2. Also, HBO has created an app where you have your own daemon!
The second season of His Dark Materials arrives on HBO in a little less than a week, and it’ll have a much darker tone than the previous season. That’s probably no surprise after Roger’s fate and Lord Asriel’s betrayal, and according to series writer Jack Thorne, Lyra is going to have some trouble trusting people moving forward.
Naturally, that hesitance about other people is going to impact her relationship with Will (Amir Wilson), whose path she’ll cross early on. The two will need to work together to face the Magisterium and adults like Mrs. Coulter and Lord Boreal, but they’ll have to understand and support one another to do that. Speaking with Metro, Thorne discussed what the two characters have in common and how that will affect how their relationship unravels.
“Lyra did trust easy, and now she doesn’t, and she’s presented with this boy who also doesn’t trust easy and never has, because he was a young carer with a mother who needed a lot of care from him and who wasn’t treated very well by the world,” Thorne said.
Indeed, trust is going to be a big theme this season, something Thorne thinks is pertinent in the world today. “I hope that the bigger messages of the show, about the choices that adults make and the choices that children make, and the way that we perhaps have let down our kids, and how we need to protect and trust them, I hope that those things shine through when discussions [are being had] about whether kids should be allowed to be fed,” he explained.
"There’s a compassion to these stories, and we are living in an age of a government that seems to lack compassion, and I hope that shines through too. I think that these stories are about thinking about those sort of big issues. I love the way that [His Dark Materials author Philip Pullman] writes because I think hat he writes with real clarity about the world and I hope that clarity translates to the screen."
We’re looking forward to watching these themes play out once the second season begins.
Image: HBO
And you know what will help us pay attention? Self-care. Or at least, that seems to be the thought between the new His Dark Materials app from HBO. “His Dark Materials: My Daemon,” available now for iOS devices and Apple Watch, matches each user with their own daemon, created by the app after the user fills out a personality test. Users can play with them, take pictures of them, retrace the steps of characters from the show, and more. In return, the daemons will encourage self-care, suggesting exercise, taking time out for yourself, enjoying a movie with a friend, and the like. Daemons have our best interest at heart, after all.
His Dark Materials season 2 kicks off in the U.S. on Monday, November 16.
Next. 10 things His Dark Materials season 2 needs to get right. dark
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