HBO’s First Full ‘His Dark Materials’ Trailer Drops And It Looks Phenomenal

HBO/Sky One

Fans of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials can now get a good look at the story brought to life as HBO dropped the first full trailer for their adaptation of the series. 

The new scenes were shared at Comic-Con today (July 19) during a panel which included stars James McAvoy (Lord Asriel), Dafne Keen (Lyra), Lin-Manuel Miranda (Lee Scoresby), Ruth Wilson (Mrs. Coulter) and executive producer Jane Tranter.

His Dark Materials is based on the trilogy which consists of The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass. 

Check out the trailer here:

The story follows young Lyra Belacqua, who lives in another world but embarks on a global adventure when she’s thrown into a mystery surrounding missing children and a particle called Dust, which holds vast secrets to the universe.

On her journey she meets a determined and courageous boy called Will and together they encounter extraordinary beings and dangerous secrets, holding the fate of both the living and dead in their hands.

In His Dark Materials, a person’s soul exists outside their body in the form of a talking animal, called daemons. The trailer gives a glimpse at some of the animals involved, including the iconic Iorek Byrnison, an armoured bear who becomes Lyra’s friend.

HBO/BBC One

At Comic-Con, Keen explained how the upcoming series has layers beyond the fantastical surface.

According to Entertainment Weekly, she said:

It can be a children’s story but if you look deeper you can see all these criticisms he does of different things.

The show comes from HBO and the BBC and is set to air over eight episodes later this year.

BBC One shared some new images from the series ahead of the trailer’s release, showing some of the show’s main characters and creatures:

His Dark Materials comes from The King’s Speech director Tom Hooper and is being produced by Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner’s Bad Wolf with New Line Cinema for BBC One.

Many social media users took to Twitter to comment on the trailer following its release and so far the reviews are overwhelmingly positive.

One person wrote:

I am all in for this. It looks beautiful, and has an amazing cast. I loved the book (I like the other two, but the first is easily the best in my opinion), and it appears they might have done it justice.

Another tweeted:

I have just seen the trailer for @BBCOne His Dark Materials. Oh my goodness! That is what it is supposed to look like. #hisdarkmaterials #bookadaptation

Hopefully the entire series will live up to the high expectations set by the trailer!

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Emily Brown

Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.