His Dark Materials: Lyra and Will rely on each other amid season 2 “madness”
The showrunner and stars of HBO’s His Dark Materials tease how Lyra and Will will help one another through a very difficult season.
The second season of HBO’s His Dark Materials has finally arrived, finally bringing together two storylines fans have been waiting to see clash. During the premiere, Lyra Belacqua (Dafne Keen) and Will Parry (Amir Wilson) finally met in Cittàgazze, an abandoned city in a different universe that lies parallel to both of their own.
This tracks perfectly with the second of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials books, The Subtle Knife, although the show introduced Will a lot earlier. Speaking to SYFY WIRE, showrunner Jack Thorne explained that they moved it up to give Will’s backstory the attention it deserved, particularly when it came to his mother’s mental health. “Having a hero who’s a teenage carer and who is dealing with his mum’s mental health issues is really, really important as to who he is and what it says about the world, and about where we find our heroes,” Thorne explained.
Meanwhile, Amir Wilson himself suggested that Will’s experiences will mirror Lyra’s in some ways, and that ultimately they’ll be able to work as a team. Despite an awkward-at-best introduction to each other, Lyra and Will have a lot in common, including difficulties with their parents. “They both find it hard to trust at first,” Wilson said. “They’ve both been let down by the people that were around them when they were growing up. When they’re with each other they realize that they can trust one another because they’re both trying to do the right thing and they realize they can help each other.”
According to Dafne Keen, Lyra and Will’s journey involves growing up and discovering there’s mor to the world than just their own experiences of it. This has already begun with the revelation that they’re living in two entirely separate versions of the same world, but there’s more to come. “Life is not just their tiny house in Oxford with, in Will’s case, his mum, and Lyra’s case, the Scholars [of Jordan College],” Keen said. “Life is much more than Dust. There’s so much more to figure out and you can’t suddenly just decide that you want to do it and suddenly discover it. You have to go through an entire journey and grow up.”
"A big sign of being mature is taking from other people and learning, which is the biggest thing this season. The biggest change for them is that they’re not alone anymore. For the first time in their lives, they feel like they’re not going to be let down. They’re safe and at least they’ve got each other. Amidst all this madness, Will’s got Lyra and Lyra’s got Will."
Growing up is hard enough without all the roadblocks Lyra and Will are facing, including Lord Asriel’s mission, Mrs. Coulter’s objectives, and the machinations of the Magisterium. But with each watching out for the other, they just might make it through season 2…and hopefully onto season 3.
Next. 10 things His Dark Materials season 2 needs to get right. dark
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