His Dark Materials is in the middle of its second season on HBO. Once that’s done, are the creators done with this world?
His Dark Materials, currently running its second season on HBO and BBC, is an adaptation of Philip Pullman’s popular fantasy book trilogy of the same name. But the show doesn’t have to end with the trilogy. Since the final book, The Amber Spyglass, came out in 2000, Pullman has expanded on the world with a new trilogy called The Book of Dust, and executive producer Jane Tranter is happy to turn that into a series if there’s interest. “We’d be very excited!” she told Radio Times. Very excited. What could be better?”
The original His Dark Materials trilogy follows the adventures of Lyra Belacqua as she grows from a child into a young adult. The first novel in The Book of Dust series, La Belle Sauvage, begins with Lyra as a baby, and gives some backstory on Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter, played by James McAvoy and Ruth Wilson on the HOB show. The second book, The Secret Commonwealth, is set after the original trilogy, with Lyra as a 20-year-old undergraduate.
“The Secret Commonwealth is one of the best books I’ve ever read,” Tranter said. “I just don’t think there is a better study of depression, in some ways, in a fantasy landscape. It’s the most exciting story but, like everything Philip does, it has many levels to it. And it’s an extraordinary piece… so huge and ambitious. But if anyone ever gave us the opportunity to do it, we’d be there.”
His Dark Materials has actually already adapted a bit of The Book of Dust, with a scene from the end of La Belle Sauvage making its way into the first season. And writer Jack Thorne has hinted that there may be more scenes like that coming in the future. “I’m not going to name anything particularly, but I’ll tell you what we did do, and what we do all the time,” he said. “We’ve got the sort of encyclopedia in our heads. And we are constantly referring to that. So you pull bits of character from stuff.”
"Once Upon a Time in the North [a separate novella] for Lee [Scoresby, played by Lin-Manuel Miranda], is very very important. And actually there’s a few opportunities where we get to use some Once Upon a Time in the North Lee in there. There’s always little bits like that where you’re just pinching like a little piece from somewhere and trying to find places to put that in."
We’ll keep our eyes peeled as the second season continues, and hope for the best for after.
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