His Dark Materials (HBO)

Twelve years after New Line Cinema's The Golden Compass failed to kick off a new young adult franchise in the face of underwhelming domestic box office and fierce criticism from the Catholic church, the studio is back at it again with a TV series adaptation of Philip Pullman's entire trilogy for BBC One in the UK and HBO in the rest of the world.

Placed there at the request of her Uncle, Lord Asriel (James McAvoy)

In an alternate universe where people' souls live outside the body in animal forms called dæmons, Lyra Belacqua lives a sheltered life amongst the scholars and staff of Jordan College, Oxford. When the glamorous and mesmeric Mrs Coulter enters Lyra’s life she embarks upon a dangerous journey of discovery from Oxford to London to points much further North.

Teaser trailer:


The books are being adapted for television by Jack Thorne ("The Fades", Harry Potter and the Cursed Child), with roughly one season/series per book.

Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech, Les Misérables, The Danish Girl) served as producing director and helmed the first two episodes. Dawn Shadforth directed the third episode. Otto Bathurst ("Black Mirror", "Peaky Blinders", Robin Hood) directed the fourth and fifth episodes. Euros Lyn ("Doctor Who", "Torchwood: Children of Earth", "Daredevil") directed the sixth episode. Jamie Childs ("Doctor Who") directed the seventh and eighth episodes.

Joel Collins (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Son of Rambow, London Has Fallen, "Black Mirror") served as production designer. Caroline McCall (Millions, "Downton Abbey", Hyde Park on Hudson) served as costume designer.

Justin Brown ("The End of the F***ing World") served as director of photography for Hooper's episodes. Suzie Lavelle ("Ripper Street", "A Discovery of Witches", "Vikings") served as director of photography for Shadforth's episode. David Luther ("The Musketeers", "Black Sails") served as director of photography for Bathurst's episodes. Ole Bratt Birkeland ("Utopia", "The Crown", The Little Stranger) served as director of photography for Lyn's episode. David Higgs (RocknRolla, "Outlander", "Origin") served as director of photography for Childs's episodes.

Framestore is the lead visual effects house.

Cast (Main):

• Dafne Keen (Logan) as Lyra (played by Dakota Blue Richards in the film)
  
• James McAvoy (The Last King of Scotland, Atonement, Wanted, X-Men: First Class) as Lord Asriel (played by Daniel Craig in the film), a brilliant scholar and a fearless explorer.
  
• Ruth Wilson (Jane Eyre, "Luther", "The Affair") as Mrs. Coulter (played by Nicole Kidman in the film), an enigmatic woman whose origins hold many secrets, and who has gained power in a patriarchal society against the odds. Intelligent and manipulative, Mrs. Coulter always needs to be in control; but her motivations are rarely as they seem.
• Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton, Mary Poppins Returns) as Lee Scoresby (played by Sam Elliott in the film), a trouble-prone but levelheaded aeronaut-for-hire, from the independent Republic of Texas.
• Archie Barnes as Pantalaimon (played by Freddie Highmore in the film), Lyra's dæmon.

England:

• Clarke Peters as The Master
• Ian Gelder as Librarian Scholar Charles
• Will Keen as Father MacPhail
• Ariyon Bakare as Lord Boreal
• Georgina Campbell as journalist Adele Starminster
• Lewin Lloyd as Roger Parslow

Gyptians:

• Anne-Marie Duff as Ma Costa
• James Cosmo as Farder Coram
• Lucian Msamati as John Faa
• Mat Fraser as Raymond Van Geritt
• Geoff Bell as Jack Verhoeven
• Simon Manyonda as Benjamin de Ruyter
• Daniel Frogson as Tony Costa
• Tyler Howitt as Billy Costa

 

The cast of the movie looked more like my mental image of the characters when I was reading the books, but some of these casting choices feel more like the characters.

Keen, for instance, doesn't have dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. But she's got Lyra's unruly nature. Nicole Kidman looked exactly like Mrs. Coulter was described, and Ruth Wilson doesn't look anything like Mrs. Coulter was described, but given some of the other casting choices that makes sense.

The one casting switch that seems sure to be a letdown is Lin-Manuel Miranda as Lee Scoresby. Sam Elliott was perfect in that role. I'm half-convinced that Pullman was picturing Elliott when he created the character. That being said, I'm interested to see what direction Miranda takes the character.

 

Yes, the book's ending was shot but discarded, one of New Line Cinema's many heavy-handed interventions into the post-production on that film, if the director Chris Weitz is to be believed. The plan was to instead use the ending as shot as the cold open of the second film, which never ended up happening. I've often wondered why, once it became clear that there wasn't going to be a second movie, we never saw an extended cut on home video with the book's ending restored. The only thing I can think of is that the visual effects were never completely, and New Line didn't want to spend that much money on a movie that was already perceived as a dud.

Pullman has an axe to grind with organized religion in general, of which Christianity (and the Catholic Church in particular) was the most prominent example.

My guess is that the Magisterium's role as the enforcement authority of the Church will be a lot more explicit in the TV series than it was in the book. I also think The Amber Spyglass has a much better chance of being adapted faithfully as part of the TV series than it would have as a movie. In particular, the references to the awakening sexuality in the young protagonists that were stripped out of the US editions of the book.

 

Based on the brief glimpses in this new trailer, I would say yes:

 

Comic-Con trailer:

If you have a decent broadband connection, wait until the last episode has aired, subscribe for a month, and then cancel once you've finished watching.

 

New Trailer:

 

"Fall 2019"