The third and final season of His Dark Materials is almost here, and HBO is doing things a little differently this time around. Season 3 has a full eight episodes, just like season 1 (season 2 was going to have eight but had to be cut due to COVID-related production difficulties). But HBO is releasing them a little different. Whereas new episodes of His Dark Materials came out at a rate of one per week during seasons 1 and 2, HBO will drop two new episodes of the show each week for its final season.
Is HBO doing this because it wants to wrap up the show quickly? Perhaps it wants to get to The Last of Us, a huge new genre drama premiering on January 15? Maybe; it’s true that His Dark Materials never became a huge hit, so maybe the network feels it should just burn through what’s left and move on. Then again, releasing multiple episodes at once has become normalized in the last few years — Disney+ has released multiple episodes of several shows at once, for instance — so maybe HBO is just keeping up with the times.
The first two seasons of His Dark Materials adapted The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife respectively. Season 3 will adapt The Amber Spyglass, the third and final book in Philip Pullman’s trilogy. It’s also the longest and most eventful, so strap in for a wild ride.
His Dark Materials season 3 cast
Most of the main players from the first two seasons of His Dark Materials will return for the third. That includes an expanded role for Joe Tandberg as the voice of armored polar bear Iorek Byrnison as well as the returns of a couple of characters we thought dead. The Amber Spyglass gets pretty weird, is all I’ll say.
- Dafne Keen as Lyra Belacqua
- Amir Wilson as Will Parry
- Ruth Wilson as Marisa Coulter
- Will Keen as Cardinal Hugh MacPhail
- James McAvoy as Lord Asriel Belacqua
- Lin-Manuel Miranda as Lee Scoresby
- Ruta Gedmintas as Serafina Pekkala
- Jade Anouka as Ruta Skadi
- Simone Kirby as Dr Mary Malone
- Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Commander Ogunwe
- Jamie Ward as Father Gomez
- Lewin Lloyd as Roger
- Kobna Holdbrook-Smith as Balthamos
- Simon Harrison as Baruch
- Amber Fitzgerald-Woolfe as Ama
- Chipo Chung as Xaphania
- Sian Clifford as Agent Salmakia
- Jonathan Aris as Commander Roke
- Kit Connor as the voice of Pantalaimon
- David Suchet as the voice of Kaisa
- Joe Tandberg as Iorek Byrnison (voice and motion-capture)
- Sope Dirisu as the voice of Sergi
- Lindsay Duncan as the voice of Octavia
- Andrew Scott as Jopari
There are several new characters entering the fray as well.
His Dark Materials season 3 trailer
Finally, check out the trailer for His Dark Materials season 3:
His Dark Materials will premiere on Monday, December 5 and wrap up on December 26, the day after Christmas.
The first episode of His Dark Materials season 3 is titled “The Enchanted Sleeper.” The second is called “The Break.” Both of those are chapter titles in The Amber Spyglass. Expect titles like “Wheels,” “The Intention Craft” and “The Clouded Mountain” to show up later in the season.
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