The cast of His Dark Materials attended San Diego Comic-Con 2019 with a full trailer in their pockets, which gave us more details about what we can expect to see!
His Dark Materials is an adaptation of Philip Pullman’s fantasy trilogy, which is a coming-of-age story with fantasy elements while also criticising society. The series follows the orphan Lyra Belacqua (played by Dafne Keen) who one day discovers that her only living relative Lord Asriel (James McAvoy) is keeping secrets from her. While her uncle is on his way to a mission, the charming but dangerous Marisa Coulter (Ruth Wilson) who is interested in Lyra and takes her with her. The story takes place in an alternate world, with Oxford at the center of the story, where human soul lives outside there bodies in the form of an animal called a daemon.
At San Diego Comic-Con, producer Jane Tranter and screenwriter Jack Thorne were joined by the main cast of the series in Hall H to talk about His Dark Materials.
Tranter said that she felt that it was time to bring this story to TV and judging by how the trailer looks, it was time well spent and a fantastic decision to make.
When asked about the idea of having a daemon, Keen said that “it is like having your conscience in front of you and you are able to talk to yourself, somehow reflecting on your feelings and what you are doing and that in a way it shows the love you have for yourself.”
Wilson and McAvoy agreed with McAvoy adding that “it is a way of seeing how you change, as your daemon cannot change into different animals anymore when you reach puberty so you get a reflection of you and may not be satisfied with the outcome, because everyone can see your soul.”
Keen and Wilson both said they weren’t aware of the books prior to the casting for the series . McAvoy and Lin-Manuel Miranda, who plays Lee Scoresby, turned out to be fans of the books for years with McAvoy saying he’s read the books three times.
Miranda has even a deeper connection to the story because he was buddy reading them when he first met his wife, so it is part of them falling in love. He says that this is the reason why he is so excited to be a part of the show and enjoyed every minute of shooting. He remembers that when a crew member asked him if he needs a long holiday, he replied with “being a cowboy who flies a balloon and fights in bars was the holiday”. You can also expect to hear him sing in a duet with his daemon, which was the first scene he had to film.
As we know Lyra is making a journey from being a rebellious child to fighting for others and Coulter showing her darkest side, but we will also see a ruthless Lord Asriel who will not stop at any cost to fight for the freedom for everyone and leaves the audience to wonder: is he one of the good or bad guys?
Tranter points out that the novels are a lot about religion, but they do not attack any kind of religion or beliefs. This was not what Pullman had in mind and it is more that they are attacking a particular form of control and say that it is better to have a conversation when all the facts are on the table and not talking when one party is withholding information and leaving people in the dark.
Thorne added that “we should focus on the goodness and that there is something beautiful in how Pullman sees the world.”
One of the last fan questions, of which Miranda gets asked the most, was what they think their daemon would be in real life. Tranter thinks hers is a wolf, while Thorne sees a woodpecker next to him. Keen imagines a tropical monkey and Wilson thinks hers would be a cat, but Thorne thinks it would be a Sphinx. A pizza rat is how Miranda thinks of his daemon and McAvoy would love to see a sea otter by his side!
While we wait for Season 1 to finally air, the cast will come together again to shoot Season 2 this summer which will be eight episodes.
