Dafne Keen talks His Dark Materials season 3, possibly playing X-23 again

Dafne Keen may be sorry to say goodbye to HBO’s His Dark Materials after season 3, but she’s already got her eyes on a possible Marvel return.

Dafne Keen’s breakout performance was in 2017’s Logan, where she played the fierce mutant X-23, but she moved up to a headlining role in HBO’s His Dark Materials, where she plays lead character Lyra Belacqua. And happily for fans, she’ll get to finish out the full story from Philip Pullman’s novels, as the show has been renewed for a third and final season.

And as one might expect, Keen has grown quite attached to Lyra after playing her for two seasons of television. Production on the series has spanned the bulk of her teenage years, something she talked about with Looper. “I’ve known some of these people and met some of the producers when I was doing Logan,” she remembered. “So I was like 11 years old. And by the time I finish, I’ll probably be like 17. That’s my entire teenage years, basically. It’s just crazy. I will get emotional. I just think it’s absolutely crazy that I’m going to have to say goodbye to these people who I’ve spent essentially half a year with for the last three or four years of my life, which is just crazy.”

That said, Keen is very much looking forward to season 3, since The Amber Spyglass — the third book in Pullman’s trilogy — is her favorite. “I’m just looking forward to the entire thing,” she said. “But I cannot wait to see [visual effects supervisor] Russell Dodgson outdo himself with all of the creatures and all of the craziness that goes on. And I’m very excited to see Lyra and Will again, and the whole dynamic and how they’re growing up — I can’t really say that much without giving spoilers, but there’s so much cool stuff that goes on in the third book.”

As for what comes after Lyra’s adventure is over, Keen doesn’t have a definitive answer, though she does have a hope. With the recent news that Deadpool 3 would not only be happening but would see the mercenary joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Keen began wondering whether other X-Men might find their way into the franchise. Now that Disney has merged with 20th Century Fox, it’s possible Marvel Studios will revisit some of the X-Men characters…perhaps Keen’s X-23?

“I’m 100 percent hopeful,” Keen said of a possible return. “I’m trying not to get my hopes up too high in case it just doesn’t happen, but I really do hope it does because I loved playing Laura. She just holds a very special place in my heart and she’s just an incredible character. And to be fair, the whole Deadpool situation really, really made me happy because, obviously when Disney bought Fox, I suspected they weren’t going to do any more R-rated films, but then greenlighting Deadpool is a great sign for other R-rated movies.”

Seeing Marvel expand X-23’s story would certainly be exciting, so hopefully the studio is listening.

Of course, continuing with her acting isn’t the only future the young actress sees for herself. “I don’t think it’s the only thing I’ll do,” Keen said. “I really want to try other stuff, like directing, writing and designing.”

Whatever Keen decides to do after His Dark Materials is over, she seems more than talented enough to pull it off. She’s already accomplished plenty during her teenage years, and we can’t wait to see what else she does as she approaches adulthood.

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