The HIS DARK MATERIALS TV show is entering production imminently. The BBC and Bad Wolf Productions have teamed up with New Line/Warner Brothers to make a 40-episode TV version of Philip Pullman's trilogy, consisting of five eight-episode seasons. Both Netflix and Apple TV are in discussions to air the show Stateside (hopefully Netflix gets it, as I think Apple may have missed the boat on the TV window).
Dafne Keen (LOGAN) will be playing the starring role of Lyra. Lin-Manuel Miranda (HAMILTON, the upcoming KINGKILLER CHRONICLE projects) will be playing Captain Lee Scoresby. Further casting will be announced in the next few weeks.
The first season is expected to adapt the bulk of the first novel in the series, NORTHERN LIGHTS (aka THE GOLDEN COMPASS in foreign climes).
Not sure how I feel about Laura being in this...but eh. The first time they tried it, it didn't go so well...
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The first time around, they tried to cram a very dense novel into one movie (which didn't work) and they also banked on American box office in the face of a weird religious campaign. This time around they're taking a lot more time and they're basing the production in a UK and global perspective, which doesn't really give a toss when American religious fundamentalists think. So I think they should be fine this time around.
I do wonder how they're going to handle THE AMBER SPYGLASS though, which goes off in some very strange directions.
Production is now underway.. In fact, they started in June, but only confirmed this recently.
In addition to the casting of Dafne Keen and Lin-Manuel Miranda, they've also added James McAvoy as Lord Asriel (which is excellent casting), along with Ruth Wilson (LUTHER) as Ms. Coulter and Clarke Peters (THE WIRE) as the Master of Jordan College.
So now only do we have X-23 but we have young Charles Xavier as well.
Full cast list so far (apart from the bears, who won't be cast until later because voicovers):
James McAvoy (X-Men, Split) stars as Lord Asriel, with Ruth Wilson (Luther) as Ms. Coulter, Dafne Keen (Logan) as Lyra Belacqua, Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton, the forthcoming Kingkiller Chronicle movie and TV series) as Lee Scoresby and Clarke Peters (The Wire) as the Master of Jordan College.
The drama also stars Georgina Campbell (Black Mirror, Krypton) as Adele Starminster, Ariyon Bakare (Rogue One) as Lord Boreal, Ian Gelder (Game of Thrones) as Librarian-Scholar Charles, Will Keen (The Crown) as Father MacPhail, Anne-Marie Duff (the original Shameless) as Ma Costa, James Cosmo (Game of Thrones) as Farder Coram, Geoff Bell (Kingsman: The Secret Service) as Jack Verhoeven, Lucian Msamati (Game of Thrones) as John Faa, Simon Manyoda as Benjamin de Ruyter and Mat Fraser as Raymond Van Gerrit, with newcomers Lewin Lloyd as Roger Parslow, Daniel Frogson as Tony Costa, Tyler Hewitt as Billy Costa and Archie Barnes as Pantalaimon.
Tom Hooper (The King's Speech, Les Miserables) will direct the first two episodes, Dawn Shadforth will direct the third episode and Otto Bathurst (Robin Hood, Peaky Blinders) will direct the fourth and fifth episodes. Directors for the other three episodes are to be announced. The writer for Season 1 is Jack Thorne (This is England, The Fades, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child).
The series is expected to start airing in late 2019 or early 2020.
Lin-Manuel Miranda (HAMILTON, the upcoming KINGKILLER CHRONICLE projects) will be playing Captain Lee Scoresby.
Setting up for the musical episode so many series have.
Season 1 has wrapped shooting.
The show has already been renewed for Season 2, so they can move straight into production on that (which will be handy because of the ages of the child actors). Season 1 is expected to air on the BBC in the UK and HBO in the States in summer/autumn 2019.
His Dark Materials teaser trailer (No official premiere date yet, just "coming soon")
Season one will consist of 8 episodes, airing on the BBC in the UK and HBO in the US.
Casting includes:
(Edit: Oops, Werthead already covered it.)
Dafne Keen (Logan) as Lyra Belacqua
James McAvoy (multiple X-Men films, Atomic Blonde, Split) as Lord Asriel
Ruth Wilson (Luther) as Marisa Coulter
Lin Manuel-Miranda (Mary Poppins Returns, Hamilton: An American Musical) as Lee Scoresby, and
Clarke Peters (Jericho, Jessica Jones, Person of Interest, The Wire) as the Master of Jordan College
So now only do we have X-23 but we have young Charles Xavier as well.
Not only that, but Father MacPhail is played by Will Keen, who is Dafne Keen's real life dad.
Even so, I count actors by the number of times they've been in Marvel films. :p ;)
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New trailer, showing the daemons and armoured bears!
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His Dark Materials premieres November 4 on HBO
Edit: Jinx!
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New trailer
This one gave me chills! I am even more psyched about this mini-series than I was before.
This one gave me chills! I am even more psyched about this mini-series than I was before.
Mini-series? It's three seasons of eight episodes each, to adapt the entire trilogy. They just finished shooting the second season.
Mini-series? It's three seasons of eight episodes each, to adapt the entire trilogy. They just finished shooting the second season.
I am old. Back in the days before serialized television and internet-connected vending machines, a limited-run program that aired on television and told a complete story was called a mini-series.
so far this looks a LOT like the movie
Just finished the books recently. This should be interesting.
so far this looks a LOT like the movie
Having recently watched The Golden Compass, I have to disagree. Naturally there are similarities inherent to drawing on the same source material, but the tone is much more serious in the new series. And of course the movie has to heavily compress the material, and ends up revealing critical plot points through exposition within the first 20 minutes. :(
Last night's episode was glorious! They got Iorek Byrnison right in every possible way, and I'll be damned if he didn't look like a real bear.
Four episodes saved on the DVR now. I really should start watching this.